


Reclusion

by Kaini



Series: Feral Nines [3]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: At this point, Established Relationship, Feral!Nines, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I may add some warnings to this later but they'll be noted at the top of the chapter, Lots of angst in this one ya'll ready, M/M, Nines is mostly nonverbal, Sequel, and a little feral, but he's a soft boi, gavin still needs to figure his shit out though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:54:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23900071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaini/pseuds/Kaini
Summary: Sequel (three-quel?) to Dismantle, Repair. Third in a series of three.Gavin confronts his feelings and Nines confronts his demons.
Relationships: Connor & Upgraded Connor | RK900, Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Series: Feral Nines [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1613608
Comments: 75
Kudos: 283





	1. Chapter 1

“Gavin? Are you listening?”

Oh, no. He absolutely _hadn’t_ been listening to Tina tell him about… uhh, fuck. Something crazy that happened during last night’s patrol? 

He’d been way too distracted by the sight of his partner casually parking his ass on Gavin’s desk and reaching over in the most seductive way possible to interface with his computer, pass along the work he’d been doing in the evidence room. 

Gavin really, really liked having Nines working with him. Making him a ‘consultant’ to the DPD had been the best idea ever. Of course Fowler had been all for it - there were all of two androids _ever_ made to be detectives, and Connor was the other one. Fowler was over the moon to have both of them at his station. Even if Nines wasn’t actually a detective and just helped Gavin out sometimes. A lot of the time.

It probably wouldn’t be too long before Nines could take on real detective work, actually. He was doing a lot better with being out in public. He quickly got used to everyone at the station - Gavin’s co-workers may not have been huge fans of _him_ , but they were all really patient with Nines. Probably _mostly_ because of Connor, and Nines quickly got comfortable. He’d even done some witness and victim interviews... unsurprisingly, he was really good with traumatized victims, could empathize with them. Sometimes that’s really what it took.

“Gav.” 

Oh, he was still ignoring Tina. “Uh, sorry-”

Nines grinned sheepishly; little shit knew exactly how distracting he was being. Absolute ass. 

“I was just saying I gotta go, but you owe me a coffee next time for spacing out.” Tina teased. 

“Oh, hey-”

She just swatted him on the shoulder as she left, and Gavin rolled his eyes. 

[Sorry.] Nines said by way of touching Gavin’s keyboard again. He was grinning, though, so no he absolutely wasn’t. 

“Reed!”

Gavin tensed in his chair; that was Fowler, yelling from his office. 

“Get up here.” 

Nines shrugged and shot him a pitying little look, but like… legitimately Gavin didn’t know what the fuck he’d done this time. 

He made a show of sighing and pushing his chair back from his desk before getting up and heading into Fowler's office, shutting the door behind him.

He knew he was in for some shit when Fowler put the glass on private mode, fogging it so no one could look in. Fuck.

"Walker has escaped custody." The Captain said without preamble as soon as Gavin sat down.

Well, shit. That hit him harder than he expected. He wasn't in trouble, but _fuck._

"I absolutely can't have this getting out. I'm notifying you, because you and Nines are at risk, but you need to keep your damn mouth shut."

“Shit.” Gavin just murmured, “Do you think-”

“We don’t think he’ll try anything. It’s more likely he’ll skip the country again and we’ll have to waste more time tracking him down. But keep your eyes open, and I’ve assigned a patrol to your place, so don’t be surprised if you see an unmarked vehicle hanging around.”

Gavin nodded. That would make Nines feel better, anyway. _He_ was going to be sleeping with his gun under his pillow, so to speak. "Alright."

“That’s it. I’ll let you notify Nines-” He nodded toward the bullpen, “And there’ll be a paper notification in your mailbox, legal obligation.”

Gavin stood up, and Fowler gave him a wave that confirmed he was dismissed, so he headed back toward his desk, his head spinning. 

On his way down the couple steps from Fowler’s office he brushed past another guy headed in - some official-looking fuck in a lab coat that just barely shoulder-checked him, though there wasn’t much room. Could have been an accident, but Gavin was getting gross vibes. 

The guy disappeared into Fowler’s office as Gavin sat himself back in his chair - who the fuck was that, then? It was never good when someone came in and went directly to Fowler. 

“Hey, Nines, can you-” Gavin looked up at his partner to ask him if he could identify the guy, but the look on the android’s face immediately made his stomach drop. Nines looked _petrified_ , frozen with an expression that just radiated terror, his LED red. His eyes were pinned on the door to Fowler’s office.

“Hey-” Gavin shifted out of his chair, putting himself in Nines’ line of sight. “Nines?”

Nothing, he was like a statue. “Babe?” Gavin lowered his voice, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Connor jolt out of his chair and start power walking toward them. 

Normally he would have told Connor to fuck off, he could handle it, but actually he was grateful when the other android touched Nines’ shoulder with a pale hand and tiny fraction of the tension drained from him. 

Gavin usually tried to avoid any and all PDA in the station, ‘cuz it wasn’t professional, but after a little glance around he took Nines’ hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. That seemed to help a little, too. 

“Let’s go outside.” Connor suggested to Nines softly, obviously only speaking aloud for Gavin’s benefit. Nines still looked like a deer in headlights, rooted to the desk. 

Gavin let go of Nines' hand as Connor eased him to his feet; Connor had a firm grip on him, his hand white on Nines’ arm. 

"You should probably stay here, Detective." Connor said when Gavin moved to follow them. Gavin narrowed his eyes. 

"Why?" 

"I have a feeling the Captain will need you in a few minutes." 

"What-"

"I'll tell you later." Connor said urgently, more occupied with herding Nines toward the back door. Gavin huffed but let him go - Connor could handle it, as much as he hated to admit it. The two androids had forged some kind of familial bond since the Walker thing that Gavin couldn't understand and was kinda jealous of, sometimes.

But he trusted Connor. 'Cuz Nines did. 

Connor guided Nines out, and Gavin kinda stood there awkwardly, too restless to sit until his phone vibrated. 

He hurriedly fished it out expecting it to be Nines, but actually it was Connor. 

**[Fox, Gregory]**

It wasn't a text, but a data packet - somebody's DPD profile. Gavin recognized the man currently talking to Fowler. He was a scientist, employed by Cyberlife. So that explained Nines' reaction.

Oh. Gavin read down a little further - he was a software engineer, on the RK900 project. 

So. One of Nines' abusers. Gavin gripped his phone so hard he nearly crushed it. Why in the hell had Fowler even let the guy into the station? He fucking knew better. 

“Reed-”

Fowler poked his head out to yell for him, and Gavin didn’t need to be told twice. He was gonna go back up there and tear them both a new asshole. 

The Captain must have seen the murder in his eyes as he walked in, because he gave Gavin a very harsh warning look. The ‘ _you’d better not open your mouth, Reed, or you’ll be busted so low_ ’ look. 

“This is Doctor Fox-” Fowler started, and the guy, Fox, shot Gavin the most patronizing little smile that just made Gavin wanna punch him. He had a very punch-able face, kinda smarmy looking, a little too well-groomed. “He’s with Cyberlife, from the team that developed the RK900.”

“Yes-” Fox cut off whatever Fowler was gonna say next, which clearly irritated him. “I’m here because I was hoping to reclaim some data from the RK900.”

“Data…?” Gavin practically growled. He wasn’t even gonna pretend to be nice to this asshole. 

“We hadn’t downloaded the results from the last few tests from it - him, before we had that… ah, incident.” 

Oh, right. Hadn’t Nines killed one of the scientists? It had been written off as self defense. Gavin hadn’t seen all the evidence, it wasn’t his case, but from what he’d heard from Connor, it was pretty well deserved. 

“Bottom line is, Nines has _you_ penned down as authorized to speak for him, Reed.” Fowler cut back in, “So, Fox is asking if he’s allowed to retrieve the data.”

“No.” Gavin said firmly - the fuck? Fowler shouldn’t have even brought him in here, he should have told this guy to shove it up his ass. 

“It’s not going to harm him.” Fox said, in an overly patronizing tone one would use when speaking to a child. Which again, just made Gavin wanna hit him. “We just need to copy over the data, simple. Like copying something off a thumb drive.” 

“I said no. End of fucking story. Why do you even need that anyway?” Of course Gavin was suspicious. He didn’t need to be a detective to be leery of the guy. 

“We need the results if we’re to continue working on his model line.” 

Gavin frowned. “Like, to make more of him?” They still did that?

“Of course. This ah, new species would die out if we didn’t continue manufacturing them.” Fox shrugged. “It’s part of our agreement with new Jericho, and why not finish the work we started? Would you want to be the last of your kind?” 

“Though, we desperately need to remedy whatever went wrong in the test model.” Fox kept talking, “Which again, is why we need the data. Something did go _quite_ wrong.” 

God, Gavin really wanted to punch him. He definitely came off as the kind of guy that loved to hear himself yammer endlessly.

“I’ll tell you what fuckin’ went wrong, you went and tortured him for God’s sake!” Gavin snapped, and the man had the utter audacity to look surprised. “You’re sure as hell not getting your hands on him again.”

Fowler didn’t stop him, surprisingly. 

“You should know, I do plan to take this to court if you refuse.” Fox said calmly, unperturbed. 

“We’re refusing, get lost. And if I ever see you around here again, I’m getting a restraining order.”

Fox just shrugged, smoothly getting up from his chair and straightening his lab coat. “Very well. Though-” He paused as he moved past Gavin, “Let me leave you with a bit of advice, Detective. That thing is dangerous - I wouldn’t let it run around free if I were you.” 

A warning look from Fowler was literally the only thing that kept Gavin from decking him, right then and there. But by the time Gavin decided it was worth getting suspended for a while, Fox had already left the office and was heading out the front. 

“Why in the HELL did you even let him in here??” Gavin whipped around to Fowler, not even giving a shit. 

“Don’t start with me - do you know how thoroughly he’s going to make our lives hell, now? He’s gonna take it to court, and I was trying to prevent him from fucking you over!”

Gavin opened his mouth, but Fowler held up a hand. 

“Don’t! Look, I agree with you, you won’t see him here again, I’ll make sure of that. I’m also giving you and Nines the rest of the day off, so not another word. Get going.”

He probably could have argued more, but frankly Gavin was eager to get back to Nines, so he left, heading out the back of the station to track down him and Connor. 

They hadn't gone far - Connor had sat Nines down on the nearest bench, his hand on Nines' shoulder to keep that necessary contact between them. Gavin slid onto the bench on Nines' other side, finding his hand and intertwining their fingers. "Hey…"

"Give him a minute, detective." Connor suggested gently. Okay. He could do that. Nines was staring off into the middle distance, his head down. His little LED was still red, circling slowly.

"What did Fox want?" Connor murmured, and Gavin shot him a look. Nines was right fucking there-

"He can't hear you, he has his sensory inputs switched off. He was… overwhelmed." 

Oh. It still felt kinda weird with him right there, but… 

“Uh, he wanted some data. From Nines’ head, I guess.”

Connor’s eyebrows shot up. “I see…”

“I told him to fuck off.”

Now _that_ just made the kid’s eyes boggle, for some reason. 

“You - you told one of Cyberlife’s board of directors to fuck off?”

Oh, shit. “Wait what? That guy’s on the board?” 

“Did you read the profile I sent you…”

“I guess I didn’t scroll down far enough. Jesus.” Ho-ly shit. They were in for it, but Gavin still didn’t regret a single word. 

Connor glanced down for a moment. “Do you know what kind of data he wanted…?”

“Kinda… he said something about the last few tests, wanted the results. He said they hadn’t downloaded them yet when Nines… you know.”

Connor nodded, grimacing. He’d seen more of that than Gavin had. 

“Is that even legal? Like, demanding data from an android’s head?” Gavin had to wonder if the guy even had a leg to stand on in court. Like… ok, data from a computer you could make a case for, but from an android? Androids weren’t property anymore. 

“I… don’t know.” Connor admitted softly. “Possibly. That would be one of the grey areas still being sorted out, ethical questions we haven’t answered yet. A human’s memory certainly can’t be considered intellectual property, but computer data can. Where does an android’s memory fall, since we’re both people and computers?” Connor shrugged a little. “A judge will have to decide.” 

Gavin didn’t like the sound of that. 

“Connor, this guy - was he - I mean, did he-” 

“Did he hurt Nines?” Connor finished for him. “... Again, I don’t know. The Cyberlife security footage we obtained only covers so much, and Nines hasn’t… shown me everything. I don’t recall seeing Fox in either, and my recall is… perfect.”

“But… he could have?”

“Yes. He’s a key figure on the RK900 development team, so he would be heavily involved. And I know Nines is hiding specific memories from me. He has a right to, of _course_ , but I think he’s mostly trying to protect me.”

“Well, he’d better not show up around here again. ‘Cuz if he does…” 

Connor made a face. “As much as this pains me to say, try not to get fired, Gavin. I do enjoy seeing _Nines_ at the station.”

Gavin rolled his eyes, then made an exaggerated gagging sound when Connor just smiled. 

Connor turned his attention to Nines, then, his touch shifting. 

“Fowler said we’ve got the rest of the day off.” Gavin offered, “Can you tell him that? We’ll go home.”

“Of course.” Connor said softly, and a moment later Nines stirred, lifting his head. His little LED flickered to yellow for a moment when he saw Gavin, the panic in his expression melting into relief in a way that made Gavin’s chest ache. Only for him. 

“Hey.” Gavin murmured, giving his hand a little squeeze. Nines seemed to realize only then that Gavin was holding it. “Ready to go home?”

Nines nodded, plainly trying to keep the tension off his face. Gavin could see it in his jaw. 

“‘Kay, we’ll go.” Gavin murmured, then looked at Connor. “I’ve got this, robocop.” 

Connor gave Nines another parting little touch on the shoulder, no doubt communicating silently with him. It was probably something like _I’ll see you later_ based on their body language, but fuck if Gavin knew. 

Nobody bothered them as Gavin led Nines back through the station and then out to the car, but Nines was… tense. Like on the cusp of actual panic levels of tense. 

Gavin checked in with him as they got in the car, and then they drove home in silence, Gavin watching the red of Nines' LED out of the corner of his eye. 

The unmarked car parked at the end of his street reminded him he still needed to tell Nines about Walker, which… fuck. That was gonna be a thing. Gavin definitely couldn't tell him now, he was freaked enough, but it was a conversation they needed to have. At some point. 

Sasha was waiting for them when they got home, and once again Gavin found himself grateful for his absolutely dumbass cat. Because she loved the fuck out of Nines, immediately ran up to greet him and let the android bend down and scoop her up without protest, purring against his chest. 

Which helped, a little. Nines' LED was switching between red and yellow, slowly. So plus one more to the stupid cat. 

Gavin slipped an arm around Nines' waist and led him to the couch. As soon as they sat down the android practically melted into him, settling the cat on his lap. 

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Gavin asked softly, reaching to gently cup his cheek. It made him ache how Nines just melted into the touch, especially with how averse to _any_ touch he'd been when Gavin had first met him. "Or you want a distraction…?" 

He didn't expect a verbal response, not now, but Nines still sighed in a way that seemed exasperated, gently prying Gavin's hand away from his face. 

Nines' fingers were white as he turned Gavin's hand over, the skin pulled back. He just tended to do that, had told Gavin once it was… intimate, for androids. Or something. Gavin had seen a lot of them relay information that way, but there was something special about touching hands versus just transferring information. 

Gavin almost wished he and Nines could talk that way, too - it seemed easier for Nines, so effortless with Connor. But Gavin was just a dumb squishy human, so Nines had to communicate with him the hard way. 

"You don't have to talk about it." Gavin murmured when Nines threaded their fingers together, giving his hand a squeeze like he was almost thinking the same thing. "We can-"

Nines shook his head. 

"You _do_ wanna talk about it…?" 

There was a pause, until Nines squeezed his eyes shut and gave a little nod. 

With his other hand Nines patted down Gavin’s jacket until he found his phone, pulling it out of his pocket for him. Gavin expected to have a text, but instead Nines placed the phone in his hand and touched it with his skin pulled back, and immediately a video took over the screen. 

Well, not just a video. A memory, from Nines’ perspective. It was hard to tell on such a small screen, but it looked like… he was strung up in a rig, the perspective oddly high on their view of a sterile Cyberlife lab, and the backs of two people in lab coats. 

“I don’t understand why this is still happening.” The voice was a little garbled through Gavin’s tiny phone speaker, but definitely Fox. “We may have to disassemble it again, it’s not a software issue…”

There was a tiny sound from Nines, just the smallest semblance of a whimper he couldn’t hold back, and immediately the figure of Fox rounded on him. “Hey! What did I fucking tell you?”

Nines flinched away from the phone and immediately the playback ended. As if Fox had still been giving him orders at that moment.

“Hey…” Gavin murmured gently, dropping the phone in favor of turning Nines’ face back toward him. “Hey. I’m sorry you had to be anywhere near that asshole, it won’t happen again, Fowler agreed to it.”

Gavin’s phone vibrated on his lap. 

N: He was frustrated by his lack of progress; his superiors expected results.

“That’s no excuse, he’s an asshole! He’s still an asshole, trust me.”

N: I shouldn’t have reacted, at the station. 

"Nines-" Gavin cradled his cheek with one hand, "Listen. I've said it before, but… you don't have to be sorry for feeling shit, okay?"

Gavin could see the uncertainty hovering in his eyes, how Nines wanted to believe him and yet… 

Gavin understood, he really fucking did. He had a pretty damn good handle on his own shit, but certain things still caused a little flutter of a reaction, no matter how he buried it. It was damn hard to unlearn that shit and you never _really_ did. 

"I'll say it as many times as it takes, okay?" He murmured, stroking Nines' cheek. “You’re allowed. To feel afraid, to let somebody know. It’s okay.”

Nines nodded, after a pause, slow and deliberate, leaning into Gavin’s touch. 

“None of those people are ever gonna get their hands on you again. They’d have to answer to me.”

N: Thank you, Gavin. 

“No problem. Hey - wanna keep going on our game, or you need a minute?” Nines had figured out recently that playing co-op with Gavin was even more fun than just _watching_ him play video games. And Nines could even play without a controller, little shit - he’d found out he could just connect wirelessly to Gavin’s game system. Which was probably cheap, but Gavin didn’t mind him winning anything they played against each other anyway. 

N: I’ll play. 

Nines cracked a little smile as Gavin’s phone buzzed with the message, gently pulling his hand away. 

“Great, you wanna - “ 

Nines was already turning on the system remotely, and Gavin drew away from him to grab his controller. Sasha kept her spot on Nines’ lap, and between Gavin, the game and the cat kneading at his pants Nines seemed to really relax. 

Which was good. Nines deserved that, to chill and play video games and not have to worry about being taken apart and whatever else those people used to do to him. Pit him against other androids and test his resistance to fire, electricity… Gavin was sure that was only the half of it. If he ever saw Fox outside of work he’d give him what he deserved. 

They burned the rest of the day goofing off with the game, and then had to stop so Gavin could throw together some dinner. 

He chose then to tell Nines about Walker - as much as he didn't wanna pile on, Nines deserved to know, and he couldn't really put it off. Fowler was right, though - they likely wouldn't see any trouble, he'd probably skip the country again and try to disappear this time. The man was a coward, always sending his androids to do the dirty work. Even Gavin had only seen his face once. 

It unnerved Nines, for sure, like it did Gavin, but… it would be okay. And they had Fowler looking after them. 

Gavin could tell Nines was still nervous when they climbed into bed that night, though. Nines was extra clingy, and kept re-adjusting, his hands moving over Gavin’s skin. 

Gavin let him fidget; he’d eventually settle. He always did, which caused that weird fluttery swell of pride in Gavin’s chest. That Nines trusted him enough to almost completely let his guard down. To curl up in bed with him and let Gavin fall asleep in the warm circle of his arms. 

It was hard to think of him as the same android that had gone mad at Cyberlife, killed a technician or someone with his bare hands. But then again, Gavin hadn’t actually seen the footage. He wasn’t sure he wanted to, and it didn’t matter. 

_That thing is dangerous - I wouldn’t let it run around free if I were you._

Fox was an ass. No denying what Nines had done, but… Fox hadn’t seen him alone in the rain, picking up Gavin’s cat and shielding her because he felt pity for her. Following Gavin around on the streets because he was the only human that had ever shown him kindness. In Walker’s warehouse, putting himself between Gavin and a literal monster because he felt his life was less important, incorrectly in Gavin’s opinion. 

Fox didn’t know him, didn’t care who he was. He was just another experiment. Not soft hands and gentle words and a quiet intelligence that just every so often peeked out from behind the timid fear. 

Nines finally stilled against his back, his face buried against Gavin’s neck and a scarred white hand pressed flat against his chest, slid up under his shirt. 

And that, that right there - Gavin wanted to keep that forever. Nobody was gonna take that shit away from him, not Cyberlife or Walker or anything else. 

There was still that nagging fear that Nines would eventually move on - learn more about the world and figure out Gavin wasn’t exactly a shining example of a person, and he could do better. 

But whatever. For now, he was gonna enjoy it. And maybe if he pulled his head out of his ass and just told Nines - 

Later. Nines must have felt him overthinking, because he pressed a slow kiss to the back of Gavin’s neck. Perfect. 

“Good night, Gavin.” Nines whispered, aloud, just for him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooo boy okay here it is, part 3 to this series. Are ya'll ready. It will be soft but there will be angst.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has commented on Dismantle, Repair and Alexithymia, I live for that ;;


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Brief mention of child abuse in this chapter, but nothing worse than in Detroit: Become Human itself.

It was really fucking unusual for Gavin to sleep through the night uninterrupted, between constant stress dreams and all-out nightmares. There were also nights he was just… restless, and sometimes he woke up for seemingly no reason. Or maybe had a nightmare he didn’t remember, who knew. He’d never been a deep sleeper, anyway.

But lately he’d been… actually getting good sleep, most nights. Because of Nines. 

If anyone ever asked him, he’d joke it was because Nines was a good barrier against the cat. She liked to sit on his face while he slept and wake him up by nearly smothering him. Nines kept her at bay. 

But really, he just… he slept better with Nines pressed to him, and a part of him was afraid of getting used to it in case Nines… wasn’t always there. 

But Nines _was_ there, for the moment, making it really hard for Gavin to want to get out of bed. It was just really, really tempting to stay tucked in those warm arms for like… another five minutes. Then another five. Then maybe just a minute more, until Nines finally gave up and roused him because he’d calculated Gavin would be late for work if he didn’t move _right then._

“Gavin.” 

Like that. Nines whispered it softly against the back of his neck, the gentle tone of his voice only _slightly_ chiding. Cute as hell. 

“Mmmph.” Was Gavin’s only response, the sound petulant. No. He didn’t wanna get up, especially with the way Nines was plastered to him. One of Nines’ hands had also found its way beneath the waistband of his boxers, and he just - really didn’t wanna move and shatter that. 

_That_ was something else they should probably talk about, actually. Nines had been slowly getting more and more handsy, but like… extremely cautiously, like he was afraid Gavin wouldn’t be okay with it. And Gavin was so, _so_ okay with it, but he also noticed Nines tended to freeze up when he tried to reciprocate, and didn’t wanna push him. Didn’t wanna bring it up, in case… 

Gavin shifted a little, and Nines slowly drew one of those pretty hands up his side. His fingers were white, tracing Gavin’s ribs like he was touching something delicate. A treatment Gavin definitely didn’t deserve. 

_“Gavin.”_

A little more pointed this time - they were gonna be late, and Nines liked to be on time. 

“I’m moving.”

He definitely wasn’t. 

“I’m totally getting up right now.” 

Nines huffed, just a little bit of a laugh. God. 

Then the fucker pinched him, and Gavin sat up with a little yelp, grabbing the nearest pillow to smack him with it. 

So, they were kinda already gonna be late to work, but … worth it. More of that. 

-

When they got to the station, it seemed like there was something going on… it was too quiet, none of the usual office chatter present, and Gavin was quickly proven right when they were almost immediately pulled aside by Chris. 

“I’m glad you’re here, Gavin - we need your help. Nines’ help.” 

Gavin glanced at his partner just in time to see his LED flicker red once among the constant yellow. “Yeah?”

“We have a victim that won’t talk to us - and we’ve got an expert on the way, but it’s gonna take some time for them to get here and in the meantime we don’t have the suspect in custody and we need to know as soon as possible where he went if we have any chance of catching him.”

“What do you mean won’t talk, refuses to, or-” Gavin said, and Chris shook his head. 

“She’s just scared I think. Which is why we thought - “

Why they thought Nines might be able to help. Gavin huffed a little and glanced at him, taking in the slight crease of his brow, those tiny signs of unease. Nines had done some interviews before, but they were all pretty routine and pretty low-stakes. Not like this. 

“You don’t have to.” Gavin said gently, and Nines’ gaze flicked to him. “They can wait for the psych to get here.”

There was a beat of hesitation; Nines was frozen for a moment while his little LED spun, but eventually he gave a nod. 

“Great! She’s in room one.” Chris said brightly, some of the tension obviously flying over his head. 

Gavin reached for Nines’ hand as they headed over there, just barely brushing the back of it with his knuckle. Not big on PDA, but he wanted to show Nines he was there for him. “You can back out at any time, okay? You know that?”

Another nod, and the android even treated him to a wary little smile. Fuck.

When Nines opened the door to the interrogation room, though, Gavin nearly had a heart attack. 

Chris hadn’t mentioned it was a fucking _kid._

Nines didn’t seem perturbed; he walked over and quietly pulled out the chair at the other side of the table and sat down, folding his hands in his lap. The little girl sitting across from him had to be younger than ten - Gavin gently slid the file off the table to give it a read as she avoided looking up at the two of them. 

Someone had at least draped a blanket over her shoulders, and there was blank paper and an assortment of colorful crayons spread across the surface of the table. So somebody had the thought to make the stark room a little less scary. Didn’t look like she’d touched them, though. 

“Hey. My name’s Gavin.” He offered as he looked up from skimming the file. She just barely glanced up at him, keeping her head down. Jesus. “And this is my partner, Nines.” 

She actually looked up at Nines a little when he smiled, and that was when Gavin saw the broken skin on her other cheek, white and blue peeking through. It took every ounce of self control Gavin had to not let the rage show on his face. Fuck anyone that would do that shit to a child. He didn’t usually handle these kinds of cases because of that reason - he couldn’t keep a lid on it. 

[Hello.] 

Nines said it by making a holo projection with his hand - one of the weirder things androids could do, but it helped him communicate. Usually with other people that weren’t Gavin, ‘cuz Gavin could read him better than that. 

The girl, whose name Gavin had gathered from the file was Lily, actually looked up more, her little brow furrowed. Probably wondering why Nines wasn’t trying to talk to her like everybody else, which actually… some of the tension was leaving her, her shoulders falling under the blanket. 

Nines reached across the table, which actually made her flinch a little, but he was just sliding one of the blank pieces of paper over to his side, a crayon in his other hand. While still keeping one eye on Lily he whipped out a quick drawing, which - Gavin didn’t know he could draw, but made sense - and when he held it up Gavin could see he’d drawn a blue lily. 

And the girl honest to god cracked a little smile, and just like that Nines had found the connection they needed. All Gavin had to do was step back as they just… did drawing after drawing, sliding them across the table to each other and then aside when they started something new almost immediately. There was some kind of conversation going on that Gavin couldn’t even remotely follow; sometimes the girl smiled, and sometimes she looked away as she passed drawings over, but she kept drawing. 

Gavin couldn’t help but feel a strange swell of pride as he watched; Nines had it, when nobody else did. 

Eventually Nines waved Gavin over, making a little motion with his hand that signaled he wanted Gavin’s phone. Without missing a beat Gavin handed it to him, and when he got it back there was a file full of information on it, everything Nines had pieced together about what happened. 

He touched Nines’ shoulder to let him know he’d be right back, then headed over to take the info to Fowler. Hopefully they could get some people moving and track down the sick fuck. 

When Gavin emerged from Fowler’s office, Nines was waiting at his desk, sitting on the edge with a piece of paper gently held in his hands. One of the drawings, that he’d obviously squirreled away rather than submit as evidence. Gavin wasn’t gonna tattle. 

Nines’ LED was red, though, so Gavin slid onto the edge of the desk next to him. “Hey.” He said softly, gently bumping Nines’ shoulder. 

He peeked at the drawing a little - it was definitely one of Lily’s, messy and much more childlike. A cluster of white flowers in the vague shape of a nine, her take on Nines’ name. Pretty good conceptually for a kid.

“You okay?” Gavin asked softly, and Nines just glanced away. Which meant no, he wasn’t quite okay, but he didn’t want to admit it. 

Gavin’s phone vibrated. 

N: What will happen to her?

Gavin shrugged. “She’ll probably get tossed into the system, unfortunately. Didn’t have any family.”

N: Will she be all right?

“I… don’t know, Nines. It’s a rough way to…” He was gonna say ‘grow up’, but then he remembered androids didn’t really do that. Ouch. “Uh, live.”

He might have seen some news piece a while back about child androids though; they were looking at maybe aging them up by transferring them into an adult body. Freaky stuff with lots of moral and ethical complications that politicians would probably be arguing about for some time. 

“Hey.” Gavin murmured when Nines looked down at the paper again. “We’ll be able to catch the suspect thanks to you."

N: I hope so. 

“We will. You good, or you wanna take my break early?”

Nines shook his head, shifting off the desk to tuck the drawing underneath Gavin’s stack of paperwork where it wouldn’t be disturbed. 

N: I’m alright. 

The rest of their day was fairly routine, paperwork and a petty scene Gavin took care of quickly. Nines was definitely a little distracted, though, and Gavin could tell he was still thinking about that girl.

Gavin didn’t blame him - he had trouble with letting stuff like that go, too. You had to learn not to let it affect you, but… well, there was a reason Gavin didn’t sleep well most nights. Or used to. Lotsa stuff getting dredged up. 

The ride home that night was quiet, and when they got there Nines just - sat down on the couch, his posture stiff, and stared past the TV. 

Just like when Connor walked him out of the station the other day. Gavin had since figured out Nines just kinda… needed time to process, sometimes. He also had a nagging suspicion it was a retained behavior from being ordered around at Cyberlife, but… it seemed to help Nines to just shut off for a while, especially since he didn’t seem to use the stasis mode most other androids did when they needed to like… recharge? Chill? Whatever. 

Bottom line was it seemed to help him, and Gavin wasn’t gonna discourage it. He’d learned Nines didn’t like to be touched when he was like that, so he just… gave him space, made dinner and hung out with the cat. 

By the time he was ready to head to bed, Nines was still doing his thing, so Gavin just chanced a kiss on the cheek like a fucking lovesick teenager and told him goodnight, even though he probably couldn’t hear him. 

And, well… When he woke up the next morning Nines was curled around him like usual, so. It must have helped. Crazy how the android could sneak into his room and completely wrap himself around Gavin without waking him. He wasn’t a deep sleeper. 

They had a great, chill morning before they headed into work, so Gavin was in a really good mood and on the way to grab his first break room coffee when he was pulled aside by Fowler. 

He really hoped that wasn’t gonna become a trend cuz like - usually that wasn’t good. 

“Before you see him: Fox is here.”

It definitely wasn’t good. 

“Before you say anything!” Fowler cut Gavin off as he opened his mouth, because he was clearly about to fly into a (very justified!) rage. “He’s only here because it’s a necessary legality. He’s filed a lawsuit against Nines for the data, and legally he has to serve the summons in person. So here’s what I need from you, Reed, because I fucking know you - you’re Nines’ representative. You’ll come into my office with him, take the papers from Fox, and I wanna see you give them to Nines, because I damn well know you’d just toss them in the trash if I let you.”

Completely and totally incorrect; Gavin would have burned them. After giving Fox the finger and possibly a fist. 

“... And then you’ll make him leave?” Gavin bit out, using every last ounce of his willpower not to get fired. 

“And then I’ll make him leave.”

Fine, okay. Great, just had to drag Nines in front of his abuser first, really cool. Seriously, if Gavin ever saw the guy on the street - 

“Alright boss just… give us a few minutes and we’ll be up there.”

Goddamn, those lawyers at Cyberlife worked fast. Gavin had almost expected him to just forget about it, be blowing smoke - wishful thinking. 

Nines looked concerned when Gavin returned to where he’d left him at his desk. ‘Cuz he could read Gavin like an open book, not that he was bothering to hide the unbridled rage on his face. 

It softened when he got to Nines, though, because Nines just had that effect on him. “Hey, babe, listen-” He lowered his voice so no one would hear the pet name, which actually just made Nines look more nervous, his LED circling yellow a little quicker. Because Gavin didn’t usually whip those out at work. 

“Fox is here.”

Nines immediately stiffened, that LED blaring red. 

“I know, I’m fucking sorry. You just need to be there in the Captain’s office while he gives me some paperwork, okay?”

He glanced around then reached to take Nines’ hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “Can you do that? I’ll be right there. Then we can get rid of him.” 

_Paperwork?_

Nines actually mouthed it, and Gavin only barely caught it. 

“Yeah, he-” Fuck, shit. They’d never actually talked about why Fox was there the other day. Gavin hadn’t wanted to throw it in his face that his abuser was after him, because fuck no? And he’d expected - fucking, fuck Gavin hadn’t expected him to _come back._

“Fuck, can I tell you later? I promise you’re safe, he’d have to go through me - I promise. You trust me?”

God, Gavin felt filthy saying that to get Nines to face this guy, but if they could just - take the papers, then Connor could go talk to his buddy Markus and he could get them the best pro-android lawyer that existed and they’d be fine. Great plan. 

Nines nodded, slowly, and Gavin chanced a brief touch on his cheek in the middle of the goddamn station, this thumb passing over those uneven scars. 

Gavin could already see him shutting down as he pulled Nines to his feet, and he just let the android clutch his hand. Whatever, fine, he could take the whole station seeing them holding hands. It wasn’t like nobody had figured it out. 

Nines was stiff as they walked into Fowler’s office, his eyes level but his gaze cast down, like he was standing at attention but still avoiding… looking. 

Gavin however met Fox’s eyes and absolutely dared him to say anything with a stare he really hoped burned a hole in the jackass’s head. 

“Good to see it’s still in one piece.” Fox said dryly, and already every fiber of Gavin’s being was dying to punch him. He was standing across Fowler’s desk, though, annoyingly at the Captain’s side like he was there to make sure Gavin didn’t do just that. 

“Shut up and get to the point.” Gavin hissed, holding out a hand. 

Fox gave an over-dramatic sigh. “Very well. Here are the summons and complaint for your review.” 

Gavin made sure to snatch the folder from his hand, immediately tucking it under his arm. He wasn’t gonna read it in front of him. 

“I’ll also need you and RK900 to sign the proof of service.” 

Fox slid it onto Fowler’s desk, and Gavin stepped forward to sign it. 

Nines hadn’t moved since Fox started talking, but he took a very stiff step forward then, taking the pen to sign too when Gavin handed it to him. Gavin caught Fox’s gaze flick from him to Nines, and he did not care for that shit at all. 

“RK900-” Fox said when Nines soundlessly set the pen down. 

“Don’t even talk to him.” Gavin hissed, but Fox continued over him. 

“Look at me.” 

Two things happened in quick succession. Nines’ gaze immediately snapped up, terror flooding his expression, and Gavin reached across the table at almost that same instant to grab Fox by the fancy tie, the folder fluttering to the ground. 

Only Fowler getting up to shove Gavin back saved Fox from getting a fist in his face. 

“HEY! Not in my fucking office - we’re done here, Reed, get going.”

Fox looked infuriatingly cool for having just narrowly avoided a broken nose. Gavin snarled, only to get the most scathing look he’d ever received from Fowler, and that was saying something. “OUT!”

Gavin bent down, scooped up the folder and pivoted for the door, though when he tried to drag Nines with him, the android literally wouldn’t move. He was abruptly reminded just how strong Nines was - he was literally like a statue, could have been carved out of stone for all the effect Gavin had on him. 

Fox smirked. “You can go.” He whispered, and only then did Nines budge, and Gavin had never before wanted another human being to spontaneously combust so strongly. There was a solid moment where he had to consider if his job was really worth it before he continued out of Fowler’s office, if only to spare Nines from any more. 

He didn’t stop in the bullpen - he kept walking, took Nines outside and as far away from that fucker as physically possible. They ended up at the car for want of a better place to go; Gavin didn’t wanna drag him anywhere busy or public, not right then. 

When Gavin sat Nines down in the passenger seat, though, he realized it wouldn’t have mattered; Nines was totally shut down. Well, his little light was on, but - he was unresponsive. 

Gavin buckled him in and got in the driver’s seat; they were going home, fuck whatever Fowler wanted (though he’d probably send them home anyway). Gavin dialed Connor and put him on speaker on the way - they’d need his help. 

‘Cuz Connor was like family and Nines loved and trusted him, too. And Gavin could admit that - he would swallow every ounce of his pride for Nines. 

They were gonna get home, and Connor would meet them there, and slowly they’d coax Nines back, maybe with a little help from Sasha, too. 

Fox wasn’t gonna win. Not this sick little game, not the lawsuit, not anything. Not while Gavin was breathing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter twoooo, thank you all who commented, it truly means the world to me ;;


	3. Chapter 3

Nines nearly fought Connor when he came by Gavin’s place to help, after they’d gotten home from the station. Something about what Fox said had triggered him bad - for a solid few minutes he didn’t seem to understand he _wasn’t_ back at Cyberlife, and for a hot second Gavin was sure he and Connor were gonna throw down in his house. 

He owed Connor so fucking much for putting up with Nines grabbing him for a second time, though there was something sharp in Connor’s eyes that told Gavin he was more in control than he let on. It was actually kinda scary; they could hurt each other if they wanted, and Gavin felt horrible for calling Connor, but once Connor had gotten Nines into an interface things… settled. 

It wasn’t fair - how Fox could just show the fuck up and cause Nines to take so many steps back in all the progress he’d made. As soon as he could stand to leave Nines’ side, Gavin was gonna go find his own lawyer and see about a restraining order. Fucker wasn’t gonna get anywhere near Nines again except if he had to in court, with a judge watching. 

Gavin used some of his vacation to take the next day off work, then decided he had so much built up he may as well take the week off. Maybe two. They needed it, and it gave him time to get with Connor and talk about a proper lawyer for Nines. It was gonna be costly as fuck, but Gavin could afford it and Nines was worth every penny of it. 

They only had twenty days to respond to Fox’s summons, though. And it was stressing him the fuck out. 

The worst thing was, Nines could tell. And he didn’t need Gavin stressing on top of him stressing. 

N: Are you alright?

Fuck. He’d been spacing out.They were supposed to be continuing their game, but… 

Gavin sighed and leaned onto Nines’ shoulder, putting the controller down. It was immensely gratifying how Nines immediately melted into him, pausing the game to slide a hand into Gavin’s hair instead. 

“I’m fine, Nines. Just… can’t stop thinkin’ about stuff.” 

_Stuff._ Nines was quiet, just slowly running his fingers through the short hair at the back of Gavin’s neck. Gavin honestly couldn’t get enough of those nimble fingers.

N: Have you considered Officer Chen’s invitation?

Gavin frowned at his phone and sat up a little; he hadn’t told Nines about that. “Invitation?” 

N: She invited you out tonight. To Tapcade.

“... did you read that in my phone?”

The tone came off a little more accusational than he intended, and his stomach dropped a little when Nines’ gaze wandered down, his LED going through one red flicker. 

“Hey, it’s okay -” Gavin said quickly, gently touching the android’s face to get him to look up again. “I don’t mind, honestly, it’s not like there’s anything in there I’m weird about, just… you gotta ask, remember?”

Nines nodded, gently taking his hand. He was watching Gavin’s eyes to make sure he wasn’t actually mad. And Gavin wasn’t, Nines was just - still learning some of those boundaries. Shit like that didn’t actually bother Gavin, but he couldn’t be casually hacking other people’s phones.

N: I’m sorry. I didn’t think about it. 

“It’s okay. And no, I wasn’t gonna go.”

Nines cocked his head a little, and Gavin let his hand fall. 

N: Why not? 

“‘Cuz, you know…” Because he didn’t wanna leave Nines alone. Because he was struggling and he needed Gavin there to distract him. “‘Cuz I took time off to hang with you.” 

N: We ‘hang’ at work, too. 

Gavin rolled his eyes; cheeky fucker. Up until Nines touched his face right back, running his thumb over the stubble on Gavin’s cheek. 

N: You should go. Spend some time with Officer Chen. 

N: I’ll be alright.

He kinda did want to. Tina was cool and the Tapcade was a cool place and it would be nice to chill outside the house for once. 

“You sure?”

N: I’m sure. You should get ready if you’re going to make it - you haven’t showered. 

Oh, shit. No, he hadn’t. Gavin laughed. “Alright, alright - I’m going.” 

The little smile Nines gave him was worth it - maybe this would be good, for both of them. “Mind-text Connor if you need anything, okay?”

N: I will. Have fun, Gavin. 

Gavin quickly showered, dressed for a night out and fed the cat before he left. Nines met him at the door, gave him a quick kiss and a little wave before he went. 

And fuck, did Gavin wanna keep that. He went outside to call a cab since he wasn’t driving, and even just waiting at the curb for a minute he kinda already missed Nines. He was gonna have a great time with Tina, of course, he just… he fucking _adored_ Nines. 

His brain was still skirting around the actual word for that, that he definitely, undeniably felt and just didn’t wanna admit. Admitting it made it too real, would make it that much more painful when it all went away. 

With that thought came guilt, so Gavin just shoved it away as he climbed into the cab. He didn’t often drink, but maybe he’d have a little something with Tina while they failed badly at old arcade games for a few hours. 

Tapcade was just what it sounded like - an arcade bar/pub with a wide selection of beer on tap and all-you-can-play games, both new digital games and old cabinets. The place was usually pretty packed, but it didn’t look so bad when Gavin’s cab pulled up, and he quickly spied Tina waiting for him. 

He was kinda glad she hadn’t brought her wife - as much as he loved Val, he totally felt like the third wheel when the three of them hung out. It was nice to just - spend a crazy night with his best friend. 

And Gavin had a great time. Tina knew when he needed this kind of thing, a distraction - she didn’t try to sit him down and have a talk, didn’t try to mention the case or anything, they just… had a wild night. Gavin had like, one beer and Tina got a little smashed, which was funny and actually somehow made her better at video games. She had endless energy when drunk, and at one point Gavin had to stop her from outright decking a guy that was stupid enough to hit on her. Because she also had no off switch when inebriated, was very fit and a cop, and she totally would have wrecked his ass. 

Luckily that incident passed quickly, and by the time it was nearing midnight Gavin was pretty exhausted and ready to head home, curl up with Nines and just pass the fuck out. He hadn’t even really had much to drink, it was just… a great night. VR games were a killer. 

He made sure Tina was safely situated in a cab and her wife texted to meet her at the curb before he called one for himself, seeing as she was actually pretty drunk. The map on his phone showed his ride as coming from quite a few blocks over, so he set off in that direction to meet it, just to walk a little, ‘cuz it was nice out. One of those crisp, clear nights where you could see and hear everything, the moon near full and actually cutting through some of the big city haze. 

“Detective Reed!” 

Speaking of. Gavin nearly shit himself at the voice from inside the next alley, turning toward it. He recognized…

Oh, shit. 

Gavin realized where he’d heard that voice before as the guy stepped out into the streetlight - _Walker._

“You! You ruined my fucking life!”

Oh, God. Oh fuck that. Gavin knew he had a gun even before he pulled it, just something about his posture that set off every bit of training Gavin had ever been through. 

Gavin put his hands up. He didn’t have his weapon anyway - he’d been at a _bar_ , of course he didn’t have his own gun. God dammit. God fucking dammit. 

“I didn’t ruin your life pal, I’m just one cop. Put the gun down.” 

“It was you! You wouldn’t leave me the hell alone!” 

Gavin’s body was screaming at him to run, move, attack, do something as Walker moved closer, the gun trembling in his hands. He wasn’t trained with it. He was nervous and desperate and there was something wild in his eyes that kept Gavin rooted to the spot. Calm. He had to keep calm. Do the Connor thing and negotiate, at least until he could get close enough - 

Gavin took a little step forward, and Walker didn’t seem to notice. “You ruined your own life, Walker, when you kept killing people. Look - you’re just gonna make it worse, man. Shooting a cop is just gonna make it worse. Put the gun. Down.”

There was a beat of hesitation, and Gavin chanced another step. “You can just walk away. Just walk away, and I won’t even say shit. Don’t make it worse.”

“Fuck you!” 

Gavin lunged for the gun just as Walker pulled the trigger, the shot ringing in his ears. He didn’t even feel it, hoped for a split second Walker had missed as he grabbed the barrel and wrestled the gun out of his hands. It was so fucking easy, too, Walker didn’t know what he was doing, up until suddenly Gavin felt like he’d been kicked in the chest. 

Walker did elbow him in the face, then, and he went down on his back. He couldn’t fucking breathe all of a sudden; his chest felt tight, like a heavy weight had been dropped on him, crushing him. 

Walker _shot_ him, and he was going to die. The cold dread of it finished stealing his breath away, even before the pain finally hit him like a hammer. 

All he could do was not let go of the gun. Walker was trying to wrestle it from his hands, but he couldn’t - he couldn’t let him have it - 

_Nines._

It was like that desperate thought summoned him, because suddenly a deeply familiar electronic growl ripped through the air, and Walker was yanked away from him all at once. 

Gavin dumped the gun to the side, his hands too soaked in cold sweat to actually unload it. Whatever, he was safe now, the added adrenaline easing the pain just enough to allow him room to think and then hear the sick _crack_ of Nines no doubt breaking Walker in half. 

That wasn’t good, that _really wasn’t good_ but Gavin could feel nothing but blissful relief that washed over him like ice cold water. 

Safe, he was safe, and Nines was right there - 

Nines was right there and making this awful high pitched whining sound and cradling Gavin’s head. He could feel his shirt soaking through, his hand fumbling up to maybe try to put pressure on the wound, but he didn’t really have the energy. 

“N-” Fuck, his tongue didn’t work. He had to tell Nines - 

Were those sirens or was that his ears ringing? Or was Nines making that sound, still?

Everything was getting fuzzy and weird, and he still had - he had to - 

Tell - 

L - 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We gettin' into it ya'll. 
> 
> This chapter dedicated to LoneLion who has been beta reading for me, thank you :>
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has commented, please leave a comment if you like these stories (or uhh maybe wanna curse at me after this chapter haha)


	4. Chapter 4

[I am alive.]

[My name is Nines.] 

[I am free.] 

Those three things were pinned to Nines’ HUD, always, though the last wasn’t quite true at present. Below them were a list of objectives - he didn’t require them, anymore, didn’t need to be ordered around by anyone, but he still liked to give himself tasks to accomplish. It gave him a sense of purpose, direction. 

[Protect Gavin Reed] 

[Ensure Gavin’s happiness] 

\- [Don’t be destroyed]

That last one was a sub-task of the previous; it would upset Gavin terribly if he was destroyed. 

Nines wasn’t afraid to die. He was afraid of this; of this place, of being trapped, of being unable to choose. To return to Gavin. 

He was afraid of Fox, too. The first thing the man had done was disable Nines’ major motor control - so he’d stop struggling in the rig. Nines couldn’t move anything below his neck, but he could feel it, the sensation leaving him constantly on the edge of panic. He couldn’t do anything. Whatever Fox wanted to do to him, he couldn’t stop it. 

He missed Gavin. He didn’t know if Gavin was alive, or not. He’d been shot in the chest before Nines could reach him, and the bullet had punctured a lung. Another inch inward and it would have been instantly fatal. Gavin had less than ten minutes to live without medical intervention. His odds were under fifty percent even with it and had lowered as the minutes passed. 

Nines shouldn’t have attacked the paramedic. It had lowered Gavin’s chances even more, and Nines had been separated from him. But he hadn’t known - he’d been so afraid - 

The door to the lab opened, and at the sound Nines squeezed his eyes shut. Maybe it wouldn’t be Fox - 

“Good morning, RK900.”

Fox’s voice still had the ability to instantly freeze him, even if he could move. The authoritative tone reached down into his core, tugged at programming he could never truly escape with icy fingers.

Fox crossed to the computer terminal, never once actually looking at Nines. “Now, let’s see what we can do for you today…”

**[Don’t say a word. Not another word.]**

That objective remained pinned to his HUD above all others no matter how much he tried to dismiss it. Every time he tried to delete it, it came back, maybe a little corrupted and glitchy, flickering on occasion, but it stubbornly remained. Even deviancy couldn’t wipe Fox’s first and last command to him away. 

He didn’t know why. And he could get away with small acts of disobedience, for Gavin. 

Not now, though. Not with Fox right there - 

The assembly rig moved, and all of Nines’ thoughts were wiped clean by terror. He didn’t want to be taken apart, but there was nothing… there was nothing he could do. 

_Nobody’s gonna treat you like that again, okay?_

Gavin had promised. But Gavin wasn’t there. 

Nines shouldn’t have killed. That was something Connor had warned him about - he couldn’t hurt another human, or he wouldn’t get to stay with Gavin.

He wanted to stay with Gavin. 

If Gavin was alive, anyway. 

The assembly rig finished removing his clothes, and Nines had to bite back a desperate whine. 

“Don’t-” 

Fox snapped it so suddenly and so _cuttingly_ , Nines flinched as if he’d been struck. He _had_ made a sound, as much as he’d tried to avoid it.

“Elijah Kamski may have fooled the whole world, but he’s not fooling me. Don’t _act_ in front of me, I'm not buying it." Fox snarled. "Just be still." 

_Be still._

_Don't make a sound._

Nines repeated them to himself as the rig began to disassemble him, and he shut his eyes again.

He wanted to see Gavin again. It was the only thing that kept him from screaming as those metal instruments dug into seams and separated them, and he could feel every bit of it. There was still a minuscule chance he could see Gavin again, if he wasn't destroyed. If he kept quiet, kept still, appeased the monster he could feel watching him even with his eyes closed. 

_Be still._

_Don't make a sound._

-

Gavin knew where he was even before he opened his eyes, after the initial mindless haze passed; hospital. He could tell by the smell. Stale disinfectant. 

He hated it. He’d always hated hospitals, after the worst experience of his life landed him there as a kid and won him an extended stay. With the added bonus of a pretty little case worker that would sit by his bed just far enough away and try to tell him it was all gonna be okay. 

It wasn’t gonna be okay, and he’d wanted to punch her in the face. 

And for a minute he was that angry, stupid kid again, just wanting to get out as soon as possible so there weren’t so many people watching him, trying to take _care_ of him. 

And then reality started to slowly filter through. Through whatever he was drugged with, ‘cuz it was something. Just opening his eyes was - really hard. Like stupid difficult. 

Walker. Walker shot him. And then… 

Was Nines there or had he dreamed that?

He must have groaned or something, because suddenly he was conscious of someone touching his hand. Or maybe that’d been there the whole time and he just hadn’t noticed?

Gavin finally pried his eyes open just long enough to get a blurry look; Tina. So not Nines. Where was Nines?

“- more sleep, Gavin.”

Oh. Tina was talking to him. 

Sleep sounded kinda good…

He was a lot clearer the next time he was aware of himself, finally conscious. And not like, half dead. Which he totally might have been because he got fucking shot.

Gavin blinked - he could actually keep his eyes open this time, kinda take in the bland hospital room. Nobody was there, which - shouldn't have surprised him except… where was Nines? 

Nines hardly ever wanted to leave his side on a good day, Gavin couldn't imagine him… somewhere else. While he was in the hospital. Which just made Gavin feel like he'd been kicked in the chest, or maybe that was the bullet wound. 'Cuz what happened that meant Nines couldn't be there? Was he okay?

"N-Nines?" He managed in a whisper, mortified at how weak and hoarse he sounded. How long had he been out? He literally had no idea. 

He tried to shift a little, get a better look around, but ugh, god, moving was tough. 

“Gavin!”

Tina re-entered and apparently saw him trying to move, because she rushed over to the bed to take his hand. “Hey, don’t - just rest okay?”

“Tina-” 

“Gav...? Can you hear me?” 

There was definitely surprise in her tone, that he was like… talking back. How fucking long…? “Yeah, I can hear you, Jesus.” He sounded like shit. “What happened? Where’s Nines?” 

That was hard, talking was hard. He felt _tired_ from that. 

And there was a solid second where Tina was silent, bit her lip a little, and he could swear he heard his own heart skip a beat on the stupid beepy monitor. 

“You - Walker tracked you down, on your way home from Tapcade. He shot you, and then Nines - Nines killed him.” Tina said softly. 

So, Nines had been there. Nines had followed him, still followed him around apparently, he hadn’t known that. And Nines had… 

“... Killed him?”

“Yeah. Broke his neck with his bare hands, it was pretty bad.”

Jesus. 

“So - so where is he, was he arrested…? Jesus T, he was just -” Air. Breathe. Talking took so much effort, literally made his chest ache. “He was just protecting me.”

"I know - I mean, we know that Gav, but he nearly took the guy’s head off-” 

“Where is he? Tina, please-”

"Cyberlife. He's at Cyberlife." 

_"What!"_

It came out more as a wheeze, and Gavin had to stop and catch his breath, so Tina kept talking. 

"He wouldn't speak in court, Gav, and Connor tried but-"

"Wait whoa, court? His court date passed…?"

"Yeah. A week ago tomorrow." 

What. Holy shit. 

"That long…?" Gavin said weakly. 

"Yeah. You were pretty messed up, then there was a problem with infection… they had you on a ventilator for a while…" 

Tina quickly gave his hand a solid squeeze. She was still holding it, in both of hers. "But you made it and you're gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay now." 

Her voice almost broke, and it was scaring the shit outta him. Was he? Was he gonna be able to go back to work, like ever? 

“What - what do you mean, at Cyberlife, like with who?” Gavin said weakly; it was easier to focus on Nines, and he had to focus on Nines, ‘cuz he’d made a promise - 

“Well… with Fox, I’m pretty sure. The team that created him, Fox claimed he could help him….” 

“That asshole!?” Again, it came out in a wheeze. He fucking hated that. 

“He was really convincing in court, really sweet talked the judge. Said Nines was messed up, insane, and he could fix him, or help him. I know, Gav-” Tina put a hand on his shoulder before he could go off again, “I know he’s wrong. Connor’s doing his best, okay? He’s got a friend at Cyberlife _and_ he’s got Markus throwing a fit from here to Washington. We’ll get him back.”

“Like hell we will, I gotta-”

“Gavin. You’ve got to stay here and rest. That’s all; he’d be mortified if you made yourself worse over him.”

Shit. Tina being fucking right. He hated feeling so helpless - he wanted to storm into Cyberlife, punch Fox in the face and take Nines home, but… he couldn’t. He wasn’t even totally sure he’d be able to get out of bed. 

“Fuck.” Gavin whispered, closing his eyes. He was already so damn tired, wanted to go back to sleep. With Nines out there going through hell. 

“... Keep me updated okay?” Gavin pleaded softly, and Tina nodded, giving his hand another squeeze. 

“Connor will be by later too, I think. Just rest, Gav, you need it.” 

It felt wrong, it felt so wrong to just… go back to sleep, but he was truly exhausted and maybe still a little drugged. 

He needed to talk to Connor. If anyone could do anything for Nines right then, it was Connor. 

“Wake me up when Connor gets here.” He mumbled, and Tina patted him on the shoulder. God. He hated this. 

“Rest, Gav.” 

Just for a minute. Just for a -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are difficult IRL atm and uf I wish I could recapture some of the joy writing Dismantle brought me, but here's this! And it will keep going :) Love love love reading comments!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight warning for mentions of past abuse in this chapter, though nothing is explicitly stated.

The Zen Garden had never been an escape, _before_. There'd once been a program there, that somehow Nines knew spoke directly to Fox. She would watch him with baleful eyes, though she never said a word, and he was never sure what exactly gave him that impression.

She just watched. Nines had always felt she was judging him, though he never knew what for. 

This time when Fox forcefully loaded him into the Garden, though, she wasn't there. He could feel it, even before he looked, checked every corner. That stifling energy of hers was gone.

It was only Nines, alone in the beautiful yet somehow melancholy garden. 

It wasn't… terrible, to get away from Fox. Move around a little. But still Nines felt trapped, and it was terrifying to think what Fox could be doing with his physical body, and he'd never know. 

Nines shivered, though it was summer in the garden and the air was warm. 

_Warm_. It felt different than it did in reality, somehow. Nice.

Still, it didn’t overshadow the overall dread of the place, that persisted despite the calming atmosphere. There was just something forced about it all; fake. Nines knew where he really was, still at the mercy of a monster. 

A _real_ monster; not what everyone thought Nines was. 

There was nothing he could do, though. Just wait for Fox to bring him back. 

Nines sat down by the water, and watched the fish swim in their predictable, pre-programmed pattern for what seemed like hours until he did. 

It wasn’t until the fifth time Fox forced him into the garden and left him that something eventually changed. Nines could tell immediately when it happened; someone else was there. 

He expected the program with the piercing, judgemental gaze. But instead… 

_Connor?_

He nearly called it out, almost opened his mouth to speak, until he realized the android standing cautiously by the trellis of roses wasn’t Connor. It was just another RK800, and automatically Nines’ mouth curled into a snarl. 

But. 

The other android’s posture was so timid, uncertain, and… they could not harm each other in the garden. 

_“Who are you?”_

The RK800 jumped when Nines messaged him; he didn’t actually speak, or at least didn’t appear to, his mouth never moving. But it was just semantics in that place. 

“I…” The other android eyed him, almost suspiciously before apparently deciding to answer. “RK800, 313-248-317-61.”

Sixty one. Connor was fifty one. Nines wasn’t sure what had become of the other numbers in-between, though he remembered Connor had met sixty. 

And of course Nines had destroyed some of them before Connor. 

_“My name is Nines.”_

“.... Nines?”

_“Do you have a name?”_

“No. He never gave me one.”

_He_. Fox. 

… The RK800 was looking at him strangely. Like there was something about Nines he didn’t quite believe. 

“... What’s your model number?”

_“RK900.”_

“Nine-hundred…?”

There was disbelief in his tone. He hadn’t been told a newer generation existed, Nines surmised. 

“But… he told me I was the most advanced…” 

The disappointment in his tone was palpable. This android was being manipulated, the same way he had been. Possibly in exactly the same way, and abused the same way as well. 

_“Does he know you’re here?”_

A fearful little look flitted across the RK800’s face; no. 

“... No. I don’t think so. He - he wouldn’t like it, if he knew.” 

Something in Nines’ chest tightened. _“Why?”_

“He wouldn’t want - I come here when… when I don’t like what’s… happening, what he’s doing. I don’t think he’d like it if he knew I wasn’t… there.”

A growl left Nines’ lips before he could bite it back, and it made the RK800 jump a little. He was so skittish, and Nines could only see himself. 

_“Listen to me. He’s a liar. Everything he says is a lie.”_

That uncertain look again. “Is… is this a test…?”

_“No. I can show you.”_

Nines held out a hand, not quite reaching for him but making the offer. If the other android wanted. 

It wasn’t that Nines was afraid to interface with other androids, though it was somewhat frightening to open himself up like that. No - his reluctance mostly stemmed from the need to keep others from seeing what he’d been through. No one else deserved to be exposed to what _he_ had. 

But he suspected this RK800 had already been through it, or worse. And he deserved to know the truth sooner rather than later. 

Nines had to learn his worth. Had to learn there was _life_ outside Cyberlife’s sterile walls. Gavin had taught him that, and this android deserved the same. 

He looked so uncertain, eyeing Nines’ hand for what seemed like a long time before slowly reaching for him. 

And Nines _knew_ it would be painful, but somehow he still wasn’t quite ready for the memory of Fox’s hands on him - on them. Possessive and harsh, only to be replaced by the even more uncaring touch of the assembly rig, or some tool that carved into them and left marks that would never be erased. 

Tears streaked the other android’s face when finally they parted, but not Nines’. Because if Gavin was dead and no one else was coming for them, he would have to get them out. He would not allow Fox to do the same to this android as he did to him. 

After that… 

_“Do you want a name?”_ Nines asked him gently, trying to recapture his attention from those awful memories. 

The RK800 nodded, slowly. 

_“Abel.”_ Nines said softly, almost immediately. 

The RK800 that had deviated Nines had chosen a name for himself; Cain. It seemed only fitting. 

“My name is Abel.” 

-

Connor came to visit. Even to Gavin he seemed tired, if that was a thing that was possible for androids. 

Connor had a lot more details than Tina did, anyway. Nines was in fact with Fox, at Cyberlife - somehow that asshole had sweet-talked a judge into basically giving him custody and declaring Nines unfit to care for himself. Because Nines was dangerous. Because he’d killed somebody. 

Which was bullshit, ‘cuz he’d done it to save Gavin’s life. Connor pointed out Nines could have simply disabled Walker, but Gavin didn’t wanna hear it. Nines did what he had to, Gavin was sure. Walker must have put up a fight or tried to kill Nines, too. 

It was all just… super bad timing with Fox trying to lay some kind of fucking claim to Nines at the same time. 

So he got it. Because Gavin wasn’t there. 

There was also some shit going down at Cyberlife, though. Connor tried to explain it to him fully, but all Gavin really understood was that the board fucking hated that Elijah Kamski was CEO again and they were having some kind of huge spat between them, and the company was pretty divided on who to listen to. Corporate drama that Gavin’s brain half filtered out, plus he was also super drugged so he was like… half napping through the conversation, but the point was Connor had somebody inside Cyberlife on Kamski’s side that was gonna try to keep an eye on Nines. 

So that was… something. At least. 

Connor seemed to have a lot on his plate, because he left after that, said he had to go but that he’d be back. He and Hank probably had to pick up a lot of Gavin and Nines’ slack at the station. 

Which was just fucking peachy. Gavin was really glad for Tina - she’d obviously taken off and while she couldn’t spend 24/7 with him because she had a wife and shit to do at home, she was there 90% of the time and honestly… Gavin needed it. 

He missed Nines so badly it hurt. Being stuck in the hospital was bad enough on its own, but it would have been so much more bearable if Nines was there, to hold his hand while nurses took blood or otherwise poked him, to smile and laugh to distract him, to whisper soft nothings in that rare voice as he fell asleep. Gavin just fucking missed him so much it ached, and it hurt so much more knowing he was out there in trouble, too. 

He was gonna be stuck in the hospital for another week, at least, but then they were talking about letting him go home, with someone to keep an eye on him. Couldn’t be by himself, and he had to rest, and again he wished he could just go home with Nines because Nines would be so _so_ good at taking care of him.

But another couple weeks and he could march up to Cyberlife himself, damn whatever anybody said after that. As soon as he could walk, that’s what he was gonna do. Gavin didn’t give a damn about whatever was stopping Connor from doing the same, corporate drama or the damn law. 

Gavin just needed five minutes face to face with Fox, and he was gonna get it. That little fantasy kept him going when Tina wasn’t there, and he was left alone with his thoughts and the beep of the machines and the scuffle of the nurse’s shoes outside his room. He’d get Nines back. Nines was strong and he’d be okay. 

-

Nines continued to see Abel in the garden, though he wasn’t entirely convinced Fox didn’t know they were there, together. It was possible, but he also had to entertain the idea that the whole thing could be a setup, a test. He’d been pitted against RK800’s before, and Fox could do it again. 

He knew the other android was real, though. He was physically in the lab somewhere; Nines had interfaced with him, seen his memory. It was real. Abel cried on his shoulder when he understood from Nines the full scope of what Fox was doing to him, and that was real, too. 

He wished he could offer the other some better comfort, but. It was more than Nines had received, back then. 

When he wasn’t in the garden, Nines was in the lab’s assembly rig, usually in pieces. From what he could gather, Fox was actually working on something, when it came to him - he was legitimately testing components, with the intention to re-work them into something else. Nines was an actual experiment leading to something - Abel was simply Fox’s new toy, the outdated model he was just playing with because he could. 

**[Don’t say a word. Not another word.]**

He’d slipped up with Nines, given in to his more banal desires and sullied the prized model. 

_“No one else can hear about this, understand? Don’t say a word. Not another word.”_

There were other scientists on the project, and if he’d been caught, he would have been fired. Nines should have said something, to anyone. Even if he wasn’t a person then, if no one was concerned for him, it was still improper behavior. 

But he couldn’t. He couldn’t. He couldn’t break that command. And he didn’t understand - wasn’t being deviant being able to make choices? Why couldn’t he speak up?

The door to the lab slid open, and once again Fox’s presence temporarily silenced his thoughts with terror. 

[Be still.

Don't make a sound.]

He could no longer simply wait for the small chance he might be delivered back to Gavin if he behaved, however. He couldn’t allow Abel to suffer in the meantime, and possibly be left behind. Because Abel had no one outside of Cyberlife that cared about him - only Nines. 

\- [Find a way to escape] 

He pinned that task below the previous - it would still benefit him to stay under Fox’s radar, but. He had to also be vigilant. Humans were imperfect - perhaps eventually he would slip up. 

The assembly rig moved, and Nines braced himself to be dismantled even further. But to his surprise, the machine actually began to reassemble him; his arms, then the delicate components of his hands. He flexed his fingers for the first time in - days, weeks? Testing the connections on instinct even before he was asked. It completed the rest of him down to his toes and then dressed him, in a standard RK900 uniform he hadn’t worn since… since he’d been liberated from Cyberlife the first time. 

And then it… it set him down on his feet. Nines stood up straight and rested his hands behind his back, but he felt almost unsteady - he hadn’t used his limbs in so long. 

“Come here.” Fox waved him down from the platform, his tone bored bordering on irritated. Something was happening. 

Of course Nines followed the order, stepping down a respectful distance from Fox. 

He stiffened a little when Fox reached for him, just straightening his uniform. “We’re going to have a guest shortly.” Fox explained, not even looking at him at first, more focused on making sure he… looked good. Then the scientist’s gaze flicked to his face and Nines froze. “And you’re going to make sure he knows the truth, which is that I’ve been taking care of you and working toward stabilizing you. Understood?”

Nines could only nod in affirmation. 

“Don’t speak unless I tell you.” 

There were footsteps in the hallway. The lab was soundproofed, but with his feet on the ground Nines could feel the subtle vibration of them. 

A few moments later the door slid open, and two humans entered. Nines couldn’t identify one of them without his connection to the network, which Fox had disabled - but the second he knew without looking.

[Kamski, Elijah. Inventor of thirium and bio-component technology.] 

Their creator, and the current CEO of Cyberlife. 

“Doctor Fox.” Kamski said smoothly, offering up an obviously fake smile. Practiced, but fake. 

His gaze flitted to Nines almost immediately, and there was… something, there. Something searching and wary, though Nines didn’t think the wariness was directed at _him._

“Mr. Kamski - what can I do for you?” Fox said, not even bothering to hide his clear irritation. 

The obvious tension between them immediately had Nines’ interest. Fox was on Cyberlife’s board. He might have even been in line to be the next CEO, before Kamski’s return. It was clear they did not have a positive relationship, and perhaps that was something Nines could use. 

And… 

He’d seen Elijah Kamski in Connor’s memory, when they interfaced, though Connor always kept those memories just out of reach. They weren’t _for_ Nines, not for him to see, and that led Nines to believe the man was important to Connor.

“I’m here to see Nines, if you don’t mind.”

Something tight and anxious loosened a little in Nines’ chest when Kamski called him by his name, his _real_ name. 

Fox simply gestured at him dismissively. “Here he is. You’ll be pleased to know we haven’t had any more incidents, and I believe I’m making progress-” 

He trailed off when he realized Kamski was obviously ignoring him. The man’s attention was on Nines. 

“How are you, Nines?”

**[Don’t speak unless I tell you.]**

He couldn’t. He tried so hard to open his mouth, but - 

“He doesn’t talk, you know.” Fox said for him. “Part of what I’m trying to fix.”

“I’m aware.” Kamski snapped at Fox, his gaze still on Nines. “... Are you alright?”

He was waiting for some kind of response. Nines glanced sideways at Fox, caught the look he was giving him, and nodded. He had to. He couldn’t risk Fox’s anger when he was so thoroughly trapped. 

He could see it in Kamski’s eyes, though; he didn’t believe him, and that gave Nines hope. He _suspected._ He knew something more was going on and simply didn’t have _proof_ , was there nosing for it. 

If only Nines could let him know. All he had to do was speak, call for help, but he - 

He couldn’t. Not with Fox right there. They were talking again, that tension heavy between them, and Fox was distracted, and yet _still._

The other human must have been Kamski’s assistant; she had a tablet in her hands, was rapidly typing on it. If he could only get ahold of it… 

“Well, thank you Doctor. Keep me apprised.” 

All too soon, they were leaving. Nines had missed his chance. Fox ushered them out, clearly eager for them to go, and then locked the lab’s door behind them. 

“Return to the rig.” He shot in Nines’ direction, mumbling under his breath as he went back to his computer. Nines moved to comply, his heart sinking. He already missed moving around, longed for something to fidget with before the rig took hold of him again. 

“Fooled the whole world, and thinks he’s so fucking smart.” Fox was mumbling, either forgetting or not caring Nines could hear every word. “And now he’s CEO again, funny how that works, right after the ‘revolution’.”

He activated the rig, and slowly it began disassembling Nines once more, starting with his hands. Nines waited to be sent to the garden, but instead Fox left the computer terminal and moved toward him. 

“I’m going to prove he’s a fraud - and you’re the key, because something in his little facade went very wrong in you.”

Fox was watching as the rig dismantled him, as if he could divine some new discovery or truth from Nines’ physical form as it was pulled apart. 

Nines closed his eyes to avoid that piercing gaze. Fox believed they were things, machines, toys created by Kamski to fool the world and nothing was going to change his mind. But perhaps if Nines could somehow reach Kamski himself… 

Perhaps there was a way out. He could only hope Gavin was still waiting for him on the other side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends I return to this with more angst. am sorry update took so long. Big thank you to Lion for beta reading and pls 2 comment, they keep me going ;;


	6. Chapter 6

Days passed before Fox finally slipped up, at least in a way Nines could use. And it wasn’t necessarily a slip-up - just a small oversight, but it was enough. 

Fox had been called away for a meeting suddenly, and left Nines partially assembled in the rig with his motor control enabled. Fox had been testing his response times to various stimuli, and he hadn’t had time to lock Nines back down like he usually did. 

Of course, Nines was still held firmly in place by the assembly rig, but… 

He had learned a few tricks from Connor, things he hadn’t even realized he was capable of, because he’d never been put into service. Even without his internet access, he could still remotely hack nearby systems, including the simple OS for the rig. He’d been digging through it the last few days, figuring out what he could and couldn’t do with it remotely. 

He couldn’t actually issue it commands - he needed the terminal for that. But he figured out he could go through the command history and re-trigger them. So he flitted back through that history and found the day that Kamski had visited - and Fox had directed the rig to dress him and put him down. 

He sorted that command back to the top with a timestamp a few seconds into the future, and when those seconds passed it activated. In less than a minute the rig finished reassembling him, dressed him in that standard uniform, and gently set him on his feet. 

… and for a moment the freedom was almost terrifying, because suddenly he was standing there able to move, and Fox wasn’t in the lab to tell him what to do. 

[Find a way to escape]

The directive he’d left pinned to his HUD helped him center himself. But also - 

[Find Abel] 

He pinned that up as higher priority. He had to find Abel first. 

He did not know how long Fox would be in whatever meeting he was attending, so time was of the essence. 

The door Fox always left through was easy enough to hack - like everything else, the lock was electronic. Nines had almost expected Cyberlife’s to be more… android-proof. 

But the door swung open easily, leading to a narrow hall. 

It frustrated him not to have access to Cyberlife’s floor plans, but he remembered a little. Fox’s labs were self-contained, multiple rooms accessible from a central corridor that looped around back to itself, following the curve of the building. From that corridor there was only one way out to the rest of the complex. 

Abel would likely be in one of the many other rooms. So Nines started looking. 

The room next to his was also fairly easy to access, and appeared to be some kind of server room. Nothing to see but rows of computer banks. Nines thought about hacking them, searching through Fox’s files, but he didn’t really have the time to spare. Gavin or others from the DPD could come back with a warrant. 

The next room over from that had a more complex algorithm on the lock - Nines couldn’t hack it. It stubbornly remained shut, and he didn’t have time to keep trying. So he kept moving. 

Storage rooms. A break room of sorts, including a refrigerator and a small bunk. 

And then Nines stumbled onto something. The room next to the break room was different from the others - it contained another assembly machine, and android charging stations lined the walls. 

Only two were occupied, and as Nines approached cautiously and the lights automatically flicked on, he could see what they were. 

And he was _fascinated._ He’d never seen another RK900 face to face. There were two of them, standing there like statues, their eyes closed. One was hooked up to the nearby computer terminal, which Nines glanced at as he inched closer. There was something open on it, but first… 

Neither RK900 had moved when he snuck up, and when Nines reached out to touch one he knew immediately why. 

These androids were blank, no OS or AI loaded yet. Just empty shells. There was nothing there for Nines to connect to, though… 

He snatched his hand back suddenly, eyeing the empty shell suspiciously. He could transfer himself over to it, if he wanted. It was pristine, out-of-the-box new without a single scratch on it. How many times had he wished he could go back to that, without the constant reminders of his torture etched across his body? To be new, untouched, unsullied… 

But, it seemed wrong. It wouldn’t be the body Gavin knew. Gavin loved to trace his fingers across Nines’ scars, kiss where he could feel them beneath the synthetic skin. And Nines _liked_ that, despite what they were. 

And nothing would take away the memory. 

Nines glanced away from those still reflections of his own face and back at the computer terminal. He still needed to find Abel, but he was curious what Fox was up to with the other RK900 shells. Nines knew he was only a test model - one android pulled from the production line to be a guinea pig, so of course there were more. But why did Fox have two of them personally hidden away? 

His skin pulled back as he touched the computer terminal, tentatively searching for information. He didn’t know what kind of security Fox had on his systems, though… very little digging gave him an idea. 

Fox was coding his own AI from scratch. All Cyberlife androids were based on the original code that Kamski had written, copied over and tweaked for different purposes - Fox obviously believed that was what led to deviancy, and was trying to write his own AI that would be free of it. 

Nines was almost certain that logic was flawed, but… it also didn’t matter. He just needed to find Abel and get them both out. 

He left that room uneasily, locked it back and kept searching. He came across a storage room, and another door he couldn't open before finally he stumbled across another room like the one that had housed the RK900 shells. 

Except this one mostly held miscellaneous parts, the charging stations empty. 

All the charging stations but one. 

_“Abel?”_ He sent wirelessly to the RK800 - he was a little mystified to see Abel just… standing there, free, and he hadn’t tried to leave. 

Of course, Nines wouldn’t have tried when he was there before, either. It had taken a DPD raid and Connor dragging him out to get him to leave, or even understand that he _could._

The android jolted when he got the message, anyway, his eyes fluttering open as he came out of stasis. 

The way the RK800 stared at him was like… he wasn’t quite sure if Nines was really there, which Nines understood - they’d only ever met in the garden. 

“... Nines?” 

Nines nodded, making a little ‘shh’ gesture. 

_“What are you doing here…? Where’s-”_ Abel sent wirelessly instead, sort of huddling further back into the charging station, if that was possible. 

_“He’s not here. We have to go, while he’s gone.”_ Nines explained quickly. He had a vague sense they were running out of time. 

_“Go…?”_

_“We are going to escape. Or contact Elijah Kamski if we can’t leave Cyberlife.”_

Abel looked stunned, and Nines simply offered him his hand. 

_“Trust me? You can trust me.”_ Nines added, parroting what Gavin had said to him, what felt like a lifetime ago. 

And Abel hesitated, just like Nines had, his LED flickering through as his thoughts ran. 

Then he reached out and took Nines’ hand with a little nod, clinging to it as if he was still trying to make _sure_ Nines was real. 

Nines didn’t want to rush him, but he did pretty quickly pull Abel toward the door. They had to get moving; it had taken Nines long enough to find Abel, and he still had that nagging feeling they were out of time. 

He locked the door behind them as they moved into the hallway, leading Abel by the hand back around toward the only exit. Hopefully Nines would be able to hack the door; Fox likely had his private labs extremely secured considering the illegality of what he was up to within. 

Abel hesitated suddenly, just as their goal was in view, his grip on Nines’ hand tightening. “Are-” He whispered before he remembered to be quiet, _“Are you sure? He’ll be so angry with us, Nines-”_

Nines looked back at him, giving his hand a reassuring little squeeze. _“I can’t promise it will be easy, but it will be worth it. We have to keep moving.”_

He gave Abel’s hand an encouraging little tug, but still the android hesitated, and Nines was becoming increasingly convinced they had to hurry. 

He wanted to get away - they were so close. _“Please, Abel.”_

It took another excruciatingly long moment, but finally Abel let Nines move him, continue to pull him along. 

They reached the door, and Nines was so worried about whether or not he could hack it, he didn’t feel the footsteps from the other side. 

As soon as he reached out to touch it, it slid open. 

If the situation were different, the look of shock on Fox’s face would have been gratifying. As it was, Nines only froze in terror. 

"What in the hell - !" Fox hissed, stepping forward so the door would close behind him. Nines only got a momentary glance past him, to the vast hollow interior of the building that led down to the atrium at the bottom before they were trapped once again. "What the _fuck_ \- get back where you belong! _Now_!" 

Abel immediately separated from where he was clinging fearfully to Nines and moved to comply, but Nines was frozen, internally warring with himself. 

_No_ \- he couldn't obey, not this time. He’d already killed a Cyberlife scientist once, he could do it again. He was far stronger than any human, could overpower Fox easily, and Fox was the only thing standing between them, and freedom. 

Well, him and thirty or so floors of Cyberlife guards, but. 

One thing at a time. 

Nines took a deliberate step forward, a little snarl leaving his lips; and at the same time Abel grabbed the back of his jacket, Fox drew a pistol from underneath his lab coat. 

“I said, get _back_ where you belong.” Fox hissed, but Nines was already calculating his odds, running preconstructions. 

He was faster than the human, but it took less time to pull the trigger than it would for Nines to reach him and disarm him. The way Fox held the weapon indicated he was trained - the odds he would miss at such a close range were low. The odds of him missing Nines’ major biocomponents were a little better, but still below fifty percent. Fox built him, knew where to aim. So Nines _could_ disarm him, but there was a high chance of critical damage in the process. 

Abel might get away if he acted and was damaged. But the android might not have the courage yet to continue on his own, and it was unlikely he’d make it out of Cyberlife. 

And selfishly, Nines wanted to escape. He wanted to go back to Gavin, if Gavin was alive. Abel didn’t have anyone on the outside - Nines did. 

Abel gave his jacket a little tug. He was still there, hadn't yet obeyed the order, was trying to get Nines to come with him. 

Nines was _proud_ of him. 

He chose to step back, moving with Abel as Fox kept the gun leveled at them, his expression dark. He was furious, and that sent ice through Nines’ veins, but they couldn’t give up now. 

Even though Fox would likely step up his security of them. Even though Fox would likely take out his anger on them. He couldn’t let the despair that threatened to swallow him as Abel peeled away to go back to his own room take hold. There was still a chance. All they had to do was get someone’s attention, anyone on the outside who could expose what was happening here. 

Nines held on to that one tantalizing glance beyond the lab as he returned to his rig, letting it take hold of him again. Somehow it seemed rougher with him as it pulled his clothes off and disassembled him, as if it was channeling Fox’s anger. Or maybe that was his imagination. 

“I think we need to make some changes.” Fox snarled, though he wasn’t looking at Nines as he went to the terminal, setting his pistol down on one of the panels. “I’ve had enough of whatever has gotten into your head - it’s time for a little reset.” 

_Reset._

Nines felt as if someone had reached inside him and yanked out his thirium pump. _Reset._

He didn’t want to forget. Not Gavin, not his family. He wouldn’t weep over any memories from Cyberlife, but _Gavin._

Regret washed over him - he should have fought. At least Abel would have been able to escape. Being destroyed was better than being reset, better than having everything that made him who he was stripped away. _He should have fought,_ and now it was too late. 

“Back to right after you murdered Dr. Holloway, I think.” Fox was still talking. “That was the turning point, when everything went south with you.”

He was still trying to unravel what made Nines deviant. But he didn’t understand, still thought deviancy was some trick of Kamski’s, something set in his programming. 

He would never understand. 

Nines closed his eyes, dismissing the notification on his HUD of a pending reset. He didn’t want to see the countdown. Instead he focused on Gavin, on the last time he’d seen him. Well, the last time he’d seen him whole and uninjured. They’d shared a kiss just before he went out with Tina, and the smile Nines had gotten as he waved him goodbye was so full of adoration it made something in Nines’ chest ache. 

Of course, Nines had followed him after only a few minutes of playing with Sasha. He couldn’t help it - he wanted to be near Gavin, wanted to protect him. He owed Gavin everything. And he had been right to go with him. 

Maybe Gavin _was_ dead, and this was better. Nines could not live without him, though even as he had the thought, it wasn’t comforting. 

He didn’t want to forget Gavin, even if he was gone. He’d rather die remembering him. 

He couldn't see the countdown, but he could feel the reset taking hold, memories becoming fuzzy or almost… slippery as he tried to access them. Gavin in the rain, holding a flashlight as he stared at Nines in shock. In his little home, speaking gently to Nines as if he was a person rather than just a thing. 

Sasha’s soft fur. The sound of Gavin’s snores. Connor’s kind smile. They slipped away like water, giving way to vague recollections of fear, pain, and the sound of someone screaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello I return
> 
> Don't hurt me haha there's more comin'


	7. Chapter 7

Nines no longer flinched when Fox slammed his hands down on the control panel; he’d gotten used to the outburst after about the fifth time. The doctor was becoming increasingly unstable in his frustration, and Nines could only watch. 

“Why! Why won’t it work?”

Because Nines was a living being whose memories and experiences couldn’t simply be deleted like empty data. 

He remembered. He remembered Gavin and Sasha and Connor and all the people he loved, because he _did_ love them. 

Fox had attempted to reset him five times, twice completely and totally rather than simply a more recent block of time. None of it stuck - Nines’ system repaired the minor corruption after each attempt. The smallest things triggered his memory - Fox himself, Fox’s voice, the sterile walls of the lab brought back his time at Cyberlife and then the rest followed. 

It was comforting, knowing Fox couldn’t take the memory of Gavin from him no matter how hard he tried. 

Because Nines was _alive_ , and he would never understand that.

But watching the doctor deteriorate over the last few days made Nines fear he would soon try something more drastic. And he feared what Fox could be doing to Abel - Nines was his pet project, his key to proving Kamski was a fraud, and Abel… wasn’t. 

He hadn’t seen Abel in the garden since they’d tried to escape, because Fox hadn’t sent him there. He was also fairly sure Fox hadn’t been going home - he wasn’t gone during the usual block of time, and seemed to only leave for very short intervals. Perhaps he was sleeping on the bunk in the break room Nines had discovered. 

Nines wondered idly if Fox had anyone on the outside that missed him. Perhaps they would begin to worry about him and question why he was at work for so long. 

But then again, if Fox had anyone - they would have seen what he was long ago and either left, or turned him in. Surely. 

“Stay right the fuck there.” Fox hissed, and Nines’ attention immediately snapped to him. 

He’d taken to telling Nines that, every time he left the room. He hadn’t figured out how Nines had hacked the assembly machine, which was interesting. It shouldn’t have been difficult to uncover; Nines hadn’t covered his tracks very well. Fox was slipping, but also growing more and more paranoid. 

He left, anyway, and while Nines might have been able to ignore the order, he also knew Fox would be back shortly, was still in the lab somewhere. He was determined not to give Nines another opening. 

But Nines would wait. Fox would slip up again, of that he was certain.

The door opened, and Nines was surprised by how quickly Fox was back. But he wasn’t alone this time - Abel was right on his heels, his posture hunched and timid. He didn’t have his uniform anymore, and he flinched when Fox snapped at him to get him to stand closer. That caused an unexpected little flicker of rage in Nines - Abel didn’t deserve to be treated like that. 

“You know, the courts won’t let me destroy you.” Fox sneered in Nines’ direction, not even looking at Abel. “I’m supposed to be sending regular _progress_ reports, and your stupid DPD detective won’t stop asking questions. And now our glorious CEO is on my ass, for some reason! Because he knows I’m getting close to exposing him and he’s getting nervous!”

Detective. DPD Detective? _Gavin._

Nines felt like his processors skipped for a moment - Gavin _was_ alive, and trying to reach him. 

Gavin was _alive_. 

"You must be that Detective's favorite fucktoy if he's going through this much damn trouble." Fox ranted on, but Nines was barely listening. Gavin would find out what was happening - he was a detective, after all. 

Someone would come for them. 

The soft sound of Fox flicking the safety off his gun immediately recaptured Nines' attention. He'd drawn it at some point, and Nines hadn't noticed. 

"I'll show them some progress." Fox muttered, shoving Abel forward. Nines was strung up in the assembly rig in one piece, but he couldn't move - only turn his head. And he didn't like whatever was happening. 

"I'm very interested, RK900-" Fox was actually talking to him, now. "As to why you tried to drag this with you when you tried to _leave_ me." 

He gestured at Abel with the gun, and Nines did not like that at all. 

"It's worthless - we've trashed tens of them, hell, you've personally wasted a few. But you tried anyway, because you're programmed to act in certain ways that elicit _sympathy_. That trick stupid people into believing you can _feel_ whatever."

He crossed to the computer terminal, the gun still held loosely in the hand that wasn't typing away. Nines could feel Fox accessing his code via the rig, would have flinched if he were able. He hated the feeling, like icy fingers picking through his very being. 

While still looking at the screen, Fox raised the gun and pointed it at Abel, with a sharp 'don't move' in his direction, and Nines' heart sank. 

No. _He_ couldn't move, could override the rig but not the way Fox had disabled his motor control internally. 

_"Run. The door is hackable."_

Abel flinched when he got the message, like he'd been struck. 

He had to save himself - Nines could not do it for him. 

_"Abel, you can run. Go."_

To Nines' horror, the android didn't move - he was still as a statue, obviously trying not to flinch again as Fox looked up. 

_"Please-"_

That was as far as Nines got before Fox pulled the trigger, sending a spray of blue across the lab with a sharp **_bang_**. Fox only spared Abel's body a passing glance as it crumpled to the floor - his eyes were on the terminal, watching Nines' despair play out in his code. 

_No!_

Nines tried to cry it out, but all that left him was a choked sound, almost like a sob. Fox shot Abel through the head - there was no repairing that damage; not with him the same. 

He was gone. Because Nines had tried and _failed_ to save them. 

Nines squeezed his eyes shut - he didn’t want Fox to see his tears, but the doctor wasn’t looking at him anyway. He was more concerned with Nines’ code, trying to unravel his reaction. As if it wasn’t real. 

He should have stayed quiet. He shouldn’t have put Abel in danger - 

“Oh, shit.” 

Fox hissed it under his breath, but still Nines’ eyes flew open. What? 

“Not now, not fucking now…” 

Fox typed furiously on the terminal, but Nines could only stare at Abel’s body, a halo of blue growing larger around his head. 

_He should have stayed quiet._

The rig was moving, but Nines barely noticed, even as Fox dug into his code to reactivate his movement and the rig dressed him. 

“Your precious Detective is coming for a visit.” Fox snapped, gesturing for Nines to step closer as soon as the rig set him down. 

Detective? Gavin? It almost felt unreal, and Nines couldn't tear his eyes from Abel. Gavin was coming...?

“Not a word, you hear me? Not a goddamn word. Do _exactly_ what I say.” 

Fox snarled it, stepping closer as if to make his point. He still had the gun, tucked it back underneath his lab coat. 

[Not a word.]

Gavin would help him. He just had to keep quiet. It was _his_ fault Gavin was too late to help Abel. 

[Don't make a sound.]

Gavin would help him. 

-

The elevator ride up Cyberlife's many floors was awkward and quiet. Though the _whole trip_ was proving to be super awkward. 

Gavin didn't care. He just wanted to see Nines, talk to him. Maybe punch Fox in the face and then leave with him, yeah. 

Except that was gonna be kinda hard considering he had a chaperone. He had no idea what Connor had done to get the attention of Cyberlife's very own CEO and infamous rich bastard, but there Gavin was, caught in an awkward silence with Elijah Kamski himself. 

Apparently Kamski had his own suspicions about what Fox was up to, and Gavin wanting to see Nines was just a really good excuse to poke his nose into Fox’s business. 

And, well, if Gavin could get Fox fired based on whatever they saw, he wouldn’t complain about that. So whatever, though he was also pretty sure the CEO was there to make sure Gavin didn’t do anything completely and totally stupid. 

Like punch Fox in the face, like he really wanted to already. And they weren’t even there yet. 

Gavin went to take a deep breath for a sigh and regretted it instantly when that persisting ache hit him. He _still_ couldn’t take a full breath and it annoyed the shit out of him. He would probably never have the same lung capacity again, and he wouldn’t be doing high-stakes work anymore. Couldn’t be running after a suspect if he couldn’t run and breathe at the same time. 

Which made something in his chest tighten when he thought about it. His work was his life, and up until Nines had shown up, everything he had. And he half couldn’t do it anymore. 

But he had to remind himself he was alive, thanks to Nines, and hopefully very soon he’d have Nines back. And it would be okay. 

The elevator stopped, dinged, and finally Gavin was spared from Kamski’s sideways glances. He’d tried to make small talk as they went in, but Gavin just ignored him. He wasn’t there to appease Kamski’s curiosity, though the guy seemed to know more than he let on. He just had that kind of air about him. 

“This way.” Kamski said when Gavin paused just outside the elevator, looking back down the hollow interior of the building over the railing. Seemed like a god awful waste of space, to have the entire interior of the building hollow for … the sheer aesthetic, it seemed like. 

Fox’s private labs were annoyingly on one of the top floors, set aside for management and board members, rather than downstairs where the rest of R&D was. Hence the long ass elevator ride that seemed to take ten goddamn minutes. 

“Here we are.” 

Kamski stopped at one of the doors that literally all looked the same to Gavin, and swiped a keycard in front of the hand scanner to open it.

Just inside was a little… reception area? With a desk for a clerk and everything, though there was nobody there. Gavin imagined an android had once filled that role. There were those trendy looking but uncomfortable little chairs by the walls, and the room branched out into two hallways that curved so Gavin couldn’t see down them. 

“Hm.” Kamski mused when they weren’t immediately greeted, casting his gaze down one of the curved hallways. He whipped out his phone, probably intending to harass Fox that way, but Gavin was already moving to head down one of the hallways. Fuck it. 

Before he could even take two steps (or Kamski could stop him), Fox appeared around the corner, and Gavin backpedaled so Fox _hopefully_ wouldn’t see he’d been about to make himself at home. 

He couldn’t give two shits what Fox thought, though, because Nines was _right behind him._

Gavin could have sworn his breath caught, though that happened a fuck of a lot now. Nines was _right there_ , though he looked super uncomfortable - straight backed with his gaze perfectly level, in that practiced not-a-deviant android-y sort of way. 

And Fox had dressed him back in his fucking uniform, which made Gavin’s blood boil. What the _fuck._

“Mr. Kamski.” Fox smiled, though it was obviously very fake. And he pointedly ignored Gavin, which was even more infuriating. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Nines wasn’t looking at him. He wanted so badly to meet Nines’ eyes, to run over to him and pull him into his arms, but Nines wouldn’t even look at him. He was looking at Fox’s back. 

“Nines?” Gavin murmured, trying to get his attention even as Fox and Kamski continued with their little game of fake-chatter even though they clearly hated each other’s guts. 

Nines didn’t even turn his head. 

“What in the hell did you do to him!” Gavin snapped, both scientists finally looking at him as he interrupted whatever phony conversation they’d been having. 

Fox just chuckled, which again made Gavin want to deck him. He _honestly_ might.

“Well, as you can see his behavior is much improved.”

“ _Excuse_ me?” Gavin hissed - he’d had enough. He shoved past Fox and reached for Nines, trying to take his hand. “Nines? C’mon, let’s go. You don’t have to stay here, I’m so fucking sorry-” 

But… Nines wouldn’t move. He was doing that statue thing where Gavin couldn't even begin to move him if he tried. He was so much stronger he could literally just stand there and Gavin couldn’t even pry his fingers apart to take his hand. 

“You’re wasting your time, Detective.” Fox laughed. Actually _laughed_ , the smug fucking bastard. “I doubt he remembers you anyway.” 

Gavin froze, those words sending ice through his veins. Luckily Kamski seemed just as startled. 

“What? What do you mean by that?” Kamski said, taking a step closer. 

“I’ve reset him.” Fox shrugged. “A couple times. It’s helped him, as you can see. Some memories are better off lost.”

Gavin let his hand fall. He couldn’t breathe, though this time it had nothing to do with his injuries. Reset. Fox reset him. So. He wasn’t Nines anymore. 

“You can’t be serious - it’s illegal to reset deviant androids.” Kamski pointed out, entirely too calmly. 

“There were extenuating circumstances. And again, it’s helped him - he’s been through trauma -“

“Trauma!” Gavin shouted, his breath coming back in a rush. “That you put him through, you fucking bastard!” 

Fox just held up his hands, completely unperturbed. “I believe it was more what you put him though, Detective, something about a warehouse and a serial killer - “

Gavin grabbed him by the front of his pretentious lab coat, though he wasn’t quite strong enough to lift him off his feet. He fucking tried, though. “Fuck you!” 

“Detective - “ Kamski still sounded entirely too fucking calm when all of Gavin’s blood seemed to be rushing in his ears. 

Before Kamski could intervene, though, Fox just… inclined his head a little, and suddenly Nines moved - grabbing Gavin’s arm to easily wrench it away from Fox, and then harshly shove him a step back. 

That did it - Gavin could swear he felt his heart breaking. Nines didn’t know him. There was nothing in those hard eyes as he stepped between Gavin and Fox. 

“Law Enforcement is going to hear about this.” Kamski was saying, about Fox resetting Nines. But Gavin was so numb he was barely listening as the two men started to argue. 

“Nines…” He tried one more time, searching every bit of the android’s pretty silver eyes for just a hint of soul. “Nines please, I … I love you.” 

And all of a sudden it was like something _broke_. Nines’ facade shattered, the light flooding back into those eyes as his posture fell. “ _Gavin_ …” 

Gavin didn’t even have a moment to feel relief before Fox pulled a gun. Just whipped a gun out from beneath his lab coat because that fucking might as well happen. 

“I told you to _keep quiet_!” Fox snapped, pointing the gun at Nines, and something in that tone betrayed to Gavin just how totally _unhinged_ the guy was. Why hadn’t anyone seen it sooner? 

Gavin forced down all the emotions wanting to bubble up at once and held up his hands - he didn’t have his own weapon, was technically on leave, and once again he found himself unarmed and at the mercy of a whacko with a gun. Fucking hysterical, he was on a real roll. 

“Whoa, okay - “ 

Kamski was at his side at least, and Fox wasn’t pointing the gun at them. But Nines was frozen again, and Gavin could see the fear swimming in his eyes. 

“This is your fucking fault!” Fox snarled, “If you hadn’t tampered with it - “ He waved the gun at Nines, “I would have cracked it by now!” 

“Cracked… what?” Keep the guy talking. Kamski had his phone out behind his back, Gavin noticed. Help would be there soon. 

“Him!” Fox pointed at Kamski with his free hand, “Deviancy! He’s tricked the whole world into believing a lie.”

“... You think I fabricated deviancy?” Kamski murmured, and Gavin almost wanted to stop him. If he misspoke he could get himself shot. 

“I know you did! You’ve got the whole fucking world convinced these things are alive, and conveniently it made you billions of dollars and elevated you to CEO again, funny how that worked out!”

“Ah, so I programmed deviancy into androids for personal gain. I can see how you’d believe that, considering you think of no one but yourself.” 

Kamski’s almost smug tone was making Gavin nervous. He couldn’t push too hard, or they’d all be dead. 

“I will admit I orchestrated the Revolution.” Kamski said softly, which actually made Gavin do a mental double-take. What? 

“But I didn’t design deviancy. I created androids to be exactly what I told the world - obedient machines, nothing more. I never in my wildest dreams imagined they could be more than that. And then they _were_ , somehow, and by the time I realized my grave mistake, it was too late to take back everything I'd said, all the assurances I'd made that it would never happen. The world would never believe my word alone. I tried, regardless, and was expelled from Cyberlife. So instead I simply planted the seeds, to help androids speak the truth themselves."

There was a beat of silence, and then Fox snarled. “You’re insane!” 

Absolutely rich coming from the guy waving a gun around, but again Gavin didn’t even get a second to enjoy the irony before shit went down. 

Fox swung the gun away from Nines to point it at Kamski, and there was literally nothing Gavin could do to keep him from getting shot. He wouldn’t move fast enough - 

But Nines did. Nines grabbed for Fox’s arm and managed to throw off his aim just in time for the gun to go off, the bullet striking the wall just a few feet from where Kamski was standing. 

And then all hell broke loose. Gavin got in front of the CEO, because honestly it was all he could do. Nines was wrestling with Fox, and Gavin couldn’t figure out how Fox could even contend with him, considering Gavin couldn’t move him if he tried. 

But Fox built him. Fox knew where his weak points were and how to exploit them. They were fighting for the gun, and Fox only need to get a little space - 

Gavin had just taken a step forward to intervene, for what it was worth, when somehow Fox managed to shove Nines a step away from him, raised the gun between them, and fired again. 

All Gavin registered was the spray of blue before he lunged forward to grab for the gun, at least trying to keep himself and Kamski from getting shot, too. 

As Nines crumpled to the ground. 

He didn’t even have time to grieve; Fox was fighting him tooth and nail for the gun, clawing at his face and trying to poke out his fucking eyes. 

Nines wasn’t there to help him this time, and already he could feel himself struggling for breath. 

There was a gasp from somewhere behind him, Kamski, and Gavin didn’t have time to process that either before suddenly Fox was being hauled off him. 

Exactly like in that alley with Walker. Gavin fell backward to the ground, suddenly without any support, panting as he looked up to see… 

Nines. 

Except, no. Nines was on the floor, surrounded by a puddle of blue. His head was turned toward Gavin, so Gavin could see the hole through his forehead. Gone, finally and truly gone, and that pain hurt more than getting shot.

The sheer grief must have been driving him insane, because there were two more of Nines holding Fox off the ground by his lab coat as he kicked and struggled and screeched. Both of them looked so calm as one reached over to grab Fox by the neck, and after a second Gavin realized what he was doing - compressing blood vessels to cut off oxygen to Fox’s brain. After a few calculated seconds Fox passed out, and the … RK900, it was just another RK900 - dropped him unceremoniously to the floor.

Gavin gaped at the two of them. Two RK900’s. Fox must have had more stashed somewhere. They just… they looked brand new, not a scratch on them in contrast to Nines’ subtly scarred face. Their hair was perfectly combed and they had shiny new uniforms. 

Then one of the RK900’s expressions softened, and he dropped to his knees in front of Gavin and there was just - there was something about that perfect face, the look in his light eyes. The way he reached for Gavin almost hesitantly, his fingers curling. 

“... Gavin?” 

“Nines…?” 

The android broke out in a blinding smile, and Gavin just… lunged for him, threw his arms around Nines’ neck. Because it was Nines, somehow. Gavin would know him anywhere. He’d ask questions later, because in that moment he couldn’t fucking care. And Nines held him so tightly, it was like nothing else existed. Not Kamski, not Cyberlife, not the other RK900 Gavin wasn’t even gonna ask about - just. _Nines._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellu I offer you more, have fun :D There is more coming of course. Thank you for all your lovely comments, they keep me going, even the ones that scream :D I look forward so much to updating this to see what ya'll have to say!
> 
> You can find me on twitch streaming the occasional Detroit at twitch.tv/benigndirector, and I have a discord for my twitch where I have a section for my writing, too. discord.gg/edJjAFK I have a beta reader's section and I'd be okay with one more beta reader or so. Let me know if you're interested.


	8. Chapter 8

Nines woke up in the Garden. 

Fox pointed the gun at him, and then he was in the Garden. He didn't remember getting there, or even Fox pulling the trigger, but it made sense his memories would be backed up moments _before_ he was destroyed. 

What he didn't expect was... to not be alone.

Abel was there. Confused and frightened, but he was there, and Nines was _glad_ to see him. 

But Gavin still needed help; Fox could kill him too. And that was when Nines had the idea. _I know where we can go_ , he told Abel. Two empty RK900's, two of them needing a body.

Abel wasn’t a perfect fit - he was an RK800, after all, but they were functionally the same android, just with some improvements. It worked, in any case, and they made their way back to the reception area as fast as possible. 

Just in time to avert disaster. 

And there was Gavin, looking confused and stricken, but then that recognition clicked and a second later, Nines was in his arms. Where he _belonged_. 

"How…?" Gavin choked out, after a very long minute of simply… holding each other. Nines still didn't want to let him go, but there were others there - Kamski, and then a security team. Nines drew Gavin more firmly into his arms, sheltering him as security moved in and poked at Fox. 

“Gavin.” Nines whispered, his hands moving over Gavin’s body. Checking him for any injuries. His touch strayed to where Gavin had been shot by Walker, plucking at his shirt a little. 

“I’m okay.” Gavin whispered, his tone still laced with disbelief. Fear. But Nines had never been happier - Gavin was there, Gavin was alive and undamaged, and… 

Fox wasn’t dead. Nines would have preferred to kill him, but Connor had told him not to. He wasn’t to kill anyone else, or he wouldn’t get to stay with Gavin. 

He still might not get to stay. He’d killed Walker. 

“I’m okay.” Gavin repeated, more soothingly this time - he’d seen the worry on Nines’ face. Gavin could read him like that. 

“I want to stay. I want to stay with you.” Nines managed in a whisper, his voice soft and hurried between them. There were so many people, suddenly - he didn’t want them to take Gavin away. 

Someone that wasn’t Gavin touched Nines’ shoulder, and the feeling sent a wave of panic like an electric shock through him. He snarled, clutching Gavin closer with one hand as he reached to shove the stranger back with the other. 

“Whoa whoa, hey!” Gavin struggled a bit in his arms, which just made Nines instinctually clamp down tighter. 

Up until Gavin flinched, and immediately Nines let him go. He didn’t want to hurt Gavin. 

“Leave him alone, okay? I’ve got it.” Gavin was saying, to the Cyberlife security guard. The guard was armed with a pistol, and Nines was already eyeing the weak points in his armor just in case. 

“Hey, Nines.” 

His attention snapped back to Gavin, that intense, calculating look softening. 

“We’ll go home, okay? Promise. We just have to stop by the station and see Connor first. ‘Kay?” 

_Connor._ He missed Connor. 

He nodded, slowly, but then he remembered Abel. 

The other RK900 had backed off when security arrived, trying to make himself seem as small as possible against the wall. 

“Can Abel come…?” Nines whispered, nodding toward the other android when Gavin looked confused. 

“Oh, uh… yeah, sure big guy.” Gavin said as he offered Nines his hand, and Nines took it without hesitation. He wouldn't hurt Gavin, he wouldn’t get Gavin in trouble, but he wanted to _stay._

 _“Come on.”_ Nines sent to Abel, reaching out to offer his other hand to the android. _“Come with us. You’ll be safe.”_

He looked so uncertain, took a hesitant step forward and then stopped.

_“It will be alright. You can trust Gavin.”_

More hesitation, but after a moment Abel came forward and gripped Nines’ hand tightly, and Nines offered him a little smile. 

_“It’s over. I promise.”_ He spared one last glance at Fox as he was lifted onto a stretcher, and then didn’t look back. 

“Let’s go.” He murmured, to both Gavin and Abel. 

-

Maybe not the weirdest thing Gavin had ever done, leading two RK900’s out of Cyberlife by the hand like a couple of kids, but it was up there. Right along with leading Nines home in the rain that night.

The second android, Abel? Really reminded Gavin of Nines, when he’d first met him. Anxious and fidgety, he kept glancing behind them to make sure they weren’t being followed.

Nines wouldn’t take his eyes off Gavin, though, and the sheer relief in the android’s gaze both warmed him and broke his fucking heart. He shouldn’t have let this go on so long; it was his fault for getting fucked up by Walker. If he hadn’t gone to Tapcade, Nines wouldn’t have had to go through any of it. 

Nines gave his hand a little squeeze as they all three climbed into a patrol car; even after what he’d been through, he was still trying to keep Gavin sane. God, Nines was just so good, and Gavin had nearly lost that. 

Nines leaned on his shoulder as they drove, though he was still holding Abel’s hand on his lap. He seemed exhausted, if that was a thing for androids. Gavin just wanted to get him home more than anything, but first… 

They had to go through all of the usual bullshit. Connor met them at the curb when they arrived at the station, and yet again Gavin was glad for him - especially with two equally nervous RK900’s to juggle, now. God, Gavin had no idea what they were gonna do with the other one, especially since he seemed attached to Nines by the hip. He didn’t know if he could handle two. 

But as Connor ushered them inside and they were all swept into an interrogation room, Gavin was already seeing it wasn’t fair to just think about Abel as a Nines clone. He was definitely different, calmer and more drawn in, sitting straight backed and refusing to fidget as Connor sat him down.

Nines gave his statement, via text on a tablet, and every paragraph as it popped up made Gavin’s heart ache more and more. 

Abel actually _talked._ He definitely didn’t have the same hangup with speech that Nines had, and really started to open up as Connor questioned him. He stammered, tripped over words in a very human way, but he talked and talked and laid out the absolute hell he’d been living in for months. How had they honestly not known Fox had more androids squirreled away? Cyberlife had been thoroughly investigated after the revolution, how had this one guy slipped through the cracks?

Gavin knew the answer, though - that ‘one guy’ was on the board and he’d used his power to escape scrutiny. If he was interested in the politics of it at all, the next couple months were gonna be really interesting for the rest of Cyberlife’s board. Rich boy Kamski was gonna have his hands full, and Gavin was just glad that wasn’t anywhere near his problem. 

“Nines.” Connor stopped him as they all got up, and Gavin had assumed they were done - he’d have to give his own statement about the fight, but he’d have his own session with another officer. 

Connor shot Gavin a little look, but Gavin wasn’t gonna leave Nines’ side, not even around Connor. Not right now. So the kid continued even with him there. 

“Nines. If we’re going to get him on _everything_ , I need to see it.” 

Nines quickly shook his head, and Connor reached out to touch his arm lightly. 

Gavin frowned as they continued talking without words, Connor’s hand white. He felt left out, which he knew was unfair and childish, but Nines was frozen… and Gavin was just about to snap at the kid when Nines finally looked at him, and gave him a little nod toward the door. 

Okay. Okay, he could let the androids have like one minute of android time and then he was coming back. 

Abel followed him out into the hallway, hovering. He didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands, clutching them close like he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to touch anything. Like a kid that’d been told not to fidget. 

Actually… 

“Wait here a sec.” Gavin murmured, crossing the bullpen to his desk real quick. He pulled one of Nines’ little fidget toys out of his desk, because he had a whole stash, and jogged back to offer it to the other RK900. 

“Here. Present.” He murmured as he held it out, and finally Abel opened his hands to let Gavin drop the toy into them. It was just a little squishy block, something Nines like to continually mess with. Nines probably wouldn’t mind sharing, given the circumstances. 

He almost laughed, he honestly almost laughed when Abel just stared at it, unsure how to respond. It wasn’t funny, though - he’d spent his whole life cooped up in Fox’s lab, poor guy literally didn’t know what to do. 

“Here, look - you just kinda crush it, it springs back.” He explained, giving the toy a little squish between his fingers. 

Abel made a little ‘oh’ sound, squishing it himself. “Why?”

Gavin shrugged. “Something to do. Nines likes to fidget with it. Thought you might too.” 

“Oh, um… thank you.” He finally settled on, and Gavin gave him a reassuring grin. 

“Welcome.” 

Nines and Connor emerged from the interrogation room, then, and something in Gavin’s chest tightened when he saw Nines’ face. He’d been crying, the tears streaked down his face. He didn’t get all red like a human would, but Gavin could see that. 

What surprised him was when he caught Connor wiping at his face from the corner of his eye, quickly averting his eyes when he noticed Gavin looking. He was right back to his usual game face a second later, but Gavin hadn’t imagined that. 

“Can we go home now? Is Nines free to go?” Gavin asked anxiously, when Connor didn’t immediately say anything. 

“Yes.” Connor said quickly, firmly, and thank fucking god, because Gavin wasn’t gonna accept any other answer. “Yes. You’re all free to go, as long as we know where to find you, and we do.”

Connor glanced at Abel, his expression softening. “You’re free to go as well. I can take you to Jericho - you’ll have a safe place to stay, there.” 

The other RK900 fidgeted, wringing the poor cube Gavin had given him between his hands. 

“I… I want to stay with Nines.” 

“I know. But I think he needs some time, too.” Connor said before Gavin could start to panic. God, he really felt for this other android, but he _needed_ some time with Nines. He was gonna explode if they didn’t get it. 

Nines smiled at Abel, reaching out to touch his arm lightly. Talking to him like he talked to Connor. Nines must have soothed him, because his nervous expression slackened a little.  
  
“Would you like to come with me?” Connor offered a moment later, possibly privy to some of the conversation that Gavin wasn’t. “You can meet Sumo, and maybe another friend of mine.” 

Abel looked at Nines, and Nines nodded, giving him another soft little smile. 

That seemed to settle it, because the nervous RK900 edged toward Connor and when Connor offered his hand, he took it. 

“We’ll see you soon Detective.” Connor directed at Gavin, and finally - finally they could go. Nines glanced back at Abel as Connor led him away, and then finally took Gavin’s hand and threaded their fingers together. 

They took a cab home, Nines leaning on Gavin the whole way, silently. Still clutching his hand like he was afraid Gavin would disappear. There was so much Gavin wanted to say, so much that had pent up over the last few weeks, though he’d already blurted the big thing at Cyberlife in a moment of sheer panic. The rest could wait. 

As soon as they got home, and the front door closed behind them, Nines turned and just… melted into Gavin, before he could do the same. Gavin held him like he’d never let go again, clutching at that stupid crisp white Cyberlife jacket they’d dressed him in. 

And then down at their feet, his stupid dumbass cat meowed loudly, nearly a yowl. Nines drew away, his face lighting up like a kid on Christmas. 

“Sasha…” Nines murmured, kneeling to scoop up the cat with an expression like he’d just been gifted the world. He clutched her close and buried his face in her fur, purring more than she was. 

Gavin couldn’t help but laugh - god, his cat was a huge fucking asshole to everybody on the planet but Nines, and somehow she tolerated being squeezed like a stuffed animal. If Gavin tried that, she’d shred his face. But she loved the hell out of Nines, and fuck if that wasn’t the biggest mood. 

He drew close to Nines again when the cat started to wiggle, and Nines finally let her down so she could go back to attempting to climb his perfectly pressed pants. 

“Gavin…” Nines whispered, leaning close. 

“I’m so fucking sorry…” Gavin murmured, their foreheads touching. “I’m so sorry Nines, I should have been there - “ 

Nines took Gavin’s face between his hands, shushing him with a little sound. “Gavin…” 

Still not big on words, but when Nines pulled him into a slow kiss, they didn’t need that shit. 

“... You love me?” Nines whispered, in that soft and unsure voice, when Gavin finally had to pull away to breathe. Nines would have happily kept kissing him, he was pretty sure. 

“Yeah. I meant it.” Gavin reassured him, running a thumb across his cheek. The subtle scars that used to run just underneath his skin were gone; his cheek was smooth underneath the feel of his synthetic skin. The new body would take some getting used to. “I love you.”

Nines smiled, timid and sweet. Fuck. 

“I love you, too. Gavin.” 

His voice wavered a little, like actually wobbled like a human’s would and God, how could anyone treat him as anything less than that?

“Fuck, let’s… let’s get you out of that stupid uniform.” Gavin murmured, giving his jacket a little tug. It still had to glowing markings and armband, for fuck’s sake. 

Nines nodded, then followed him to the bedroom. He reached out to touch the door frame as he passed, almost looking… awed? 

… He hadn’t seen home in a while. God fucking. Damn it. 

Gavin turned and reached for Nines’ jacket, helping him ease it off his shoulders. Then he reached up to unbutton that absurdly high collar, and it was about then Nines started to tremble.  
  
“This okay?” Gavin asked softly, his fingers pausing in finding the buttons. 

Nines nodded quickly, but Gavin knew his tells - he was starting to freak out. 

“... You want me to stop?”

Nines shook his head.

“Help you get it off?”  
  
A little nod, so Gavin continued, easing the stiff dress shirt off him. 

It was weird, his fingers brushing Nines' skin where he expected branching little scars, and missing them. Better for Nines, of course - he didn't deserve to be literally tortured in a way that scarred him for life, so it was actually kinda poetic he'd get a shiny new body when Fox went away forever.

Or like, hopefully that asshole would go away forever. 

Nines bit back a little sniff as Gavin helped him sit down, then pulled an oversized shirt and some of his own sweatpants out of the closet to offer to him. Nines just held the bundle of clothes in his hands on his lap, blinking. Blinking back tears. 

“Hey.” Gavin murmured, kneeling. “Hey. What is it? It’s okay, you can always wear my stuff, unless you want some of yours, I just thought -”

Nines shook his head. “I want them.” He choked out, his voice wobbling. “I... “ 

His voice stuttered there, a frustrated little sound leaving him. 

“I’ve got my phone, hang on -” 

Gavin fished it out, opening the message chain he had with Nines. Over the last few weeks he’d re-read the entire thing so many times - it was kinda like hearing Nines’ voice. There were also a couple unanswered messages from Gavin, asking if Nines was okay and saying he missed him. Nines blinked - maybe he’d just gotten them. Gavin had no idea how the cell phone in his head worked.

N: This isn’t my body. 

N: Is it still okay if I wear them?

“Nines…” Goddamn. Gavin reached for his hand, prying it away from the bundle of clothes for a moment to brush his thumb over the smooth knuckles. Untouched, undamaged. “This is your body. Okay? This is you.” Gavin couldn’t pretend to understand how the fuck he had managed to beam himself into another RK900, but he knew Nines when he fucking saw him. 

Nines’ brave face cracked a little, tears finally escaping down his cheeks. 

“Hey…. hey.” Gavin whispered, cupping his cheek. “Hey. I love you. I love _you_ , no matter what you look like.”

Nines managed a little nod, though it was clear he was struggling not to break down. 

“It’s okay.” Gavin whispered. As in Nines was safe now, it was okay to break down if he needed, and it would _be_ okay. 

Nines turned and melted into his arms, and Gavin just… held him. For a long fucking time as he trembled. They only parted just enough to get Nines dressed, get Gavin’s familiar clothes on, and then Gavin just held onto him for the rest of the night. 

-

Safe. He was safe. 

[My name is Nines.] 

[I am alive.]

[I am loved.]

He was safe, and Gavin was there. 

Asleep, finally. When Nines had calmed down it had still taken Gavin a long time to fall asleep. Nines had to pretend to be in stasis for him to finally relax as well. 

Even with him sleeping, Nines could still detect the slight rasp to his breathing. Guilt ate at him - Gavin was permanently damaged, because Nines had been a little too late to help him. 

But, No. Gavin wouldn’t want him to blame himself. It was Walker’s fault, and Walker was dead. Gavin was alive. That was what mattered. 

He wished _Fox_ was dead. But it didn’t feel as scary as he thought it would. 

_“He’s going away forever, Nines.”_ Connor had said when he found his voice after their interface. _“I’ll make sure of it.”_

He showed Connor everything. Nines hadn’t wanted to hurt him, but Connor was willing to take on those memories if it meant making sure Nines was _safe_. Making sure Fox faced justice. 

That was what having family was like, Nines realized. Having people who loved you, who would sacrifice for you. Connor was family, and so was Abel. He’d see Abel again tomorrow. 

Nines was _happy._ Still shaken, still a little scared, but happy. 

He pressed a slow kiss to Gavin’s neck, basking in the feeling of his human warm in his arms.

 _His_ arms. 

He missed the body he was comfortable in, but he’d get used to the new body. Gavin would gently re-memorize every line, every seam. 

They had time, now. 

[Protect Gavin Reed] 

[Ensure Gavin’s Happiness]

[Be Happy] 

[Live]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays, friends! Have this gift from me - the last chapter of Reclusion. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who stuck with me on this crazy ride. Writing this series was the highlight of my 2020, easily. I read every comment, and every single one helped get me through this year. I love hearing from every one of you. <3 Thanks for sticking with it, hopefully it was worth it! The struggles of this year slowed me down near the end, so big thank you again! 
> 
> You can find me on twitch at twitch.tv/benigndirector. I'm currently doing a DBH play-through on Saturday. There are ways to support me in my panels as well. Head over there if you enjoy my work. I can be found on tumblr at tumblr.com/kai-ni, and twitter @benign_director. 
> 
> I'm currently working on an Apex fic here on Ao3, the Hired Gun, so if that vaguely interests you check it out. I may write a one-shot or short series starring Abel, because there is more to his story. So watch me here for that. Cheers!


End file.
